On 3 Mar 2002 at 21:49, Kakki wrote: > However, (although you probably don't hear about it in the mainstream > media), the FTC constantly, and for years, has had antitrust-related > actions going against the major record companies for various alleged > anti-competitive activity so the responsible government agency has > seemed to be vigilant about keeping an eye on them. You can see a > number of such cases by going to the FTC website search engine and > typing in the names of any of the record companies. >
One of those cases you'll find concerns MAP (minimum advertised price) which was, ironically, the labels acting in the response to complaints by independent retailers. The indies came up with the idea as a way to counter the deep discounting of music by chains like Best Buy and Walmart who use music as a loss leader. The case received quite a bit of mainstream press and was settled by the majors. Last summer DOJ launched an investigation of potential collusion and unfair licensing practices by MusicNet and Pressplay (the major digital music distribution initiatives). They've also taken on the majors with respect to unfair music video licensing practices. Kakki, do you (or does anyone else - Sharon?) know what distinguishes a case instigated by DOJ compared to one initiated by the FTC? Is a matter of criminality vs compliance? Brenda n.p. Branford Marsalis - Rachmaninoff's Vocalise
