The US Supreme Court allows a digital download price-fixing lawsuit against the majors to proceed.
The Guardian reports that the multi-million dollar collusion lawsuit began as a consolidation of 28 state and federal lawsuits filed in 2005 and 2006.
The plaintiffs posit that Sony, Vivendi-Universal, Warner Music and EMI colluded to artificially keep download prices high by selling music through online outlets MusicNet and Pressplay.
Before iTunes leveled the playing field, the major labels split their music between the two websites.
Consumers would have to sign up to both, they would not work in conjunction, and purchased music couldn’t be accessed on mp3 players or barely able to be burnt onto CD (Pressplay let users burn two tracks per month).
The lawsuit also contends that the labels colluded on prices, setting an artificial floor and refusing to provide their music to other online retail outlets.
The Supreme Court has upheld a decision last year about Pressplay and MusicNet by Judge Robert Katzmann, who said, “Some form of agreement among defendants would have been needed to render the enterprises profitable”.
We’ll keep you updated on how the case proceeds.
