Apple and major labels face anti-trust accusations

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Apple and the three major record labels are being investigated by the attorneys general of New York and Connecticut in response to recent negotiations between the tech giant and music companies. Eric T. Schneiderman, attorney general of NY, and George Jepsen, attorney general of CT, suspects that Apple may have either pressured said labels to abandon “freemium” services such as Spotify, or that they conspired with Apple and each other to do so – both clear violations of antitrust law.

Universal Music has since responded to the antitrust inquiry, saying that it “shares the attorneys general’s commitment to a robust and competitive market for music streaming services in the mutual best interest of consumers, artists, services and content companies alike — and we have a long track record to that effect.”

Apple declined to comment, though this is not the first occasion it has been under fire for violating antitrust law. In 2013, it colluded with book publishers to raise e-book prices above Amazon’s usual $9.99 cap for digital books. Thus, Schneiderman and Jepsen, who were both involved in 2013′s case, are preemptively investigating the terms of Apple’s latest music service before Apple Music goes on the market to consumers at the end of June.

Via: NY Times

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Apple and major labels face anti-trust accusations was posted by Lizzie Renck, and appeared first on Dancing Astronaut.