All of us that have had some basic economics know how to keep prices high, become a monopolist and dominate the market. Without any competition you can make the prices as high as you want, untill people can't afford it anymore.
Because this is bad for consumers it's forbidden. They've tried to split up Microsoft because of this, and now our friends the record industry are getting some anti trust investigations.
The subpoenas were sent out late last week as the Justice Department honed in on whether the industry misused copyright rules and licensing practices to control distribution, The Wall Street Journal reported. |
The online music sector, popularized early on by renegade companies such as Napster, is now emerging as the latest battlefield among the Big Five record labels.
With Napster more or less defanged, the major record companies are launching rival joint ventures backing different distribution technologies. Sony and Vivendi Universal are working together in the Pressplay venture, using Microsoft technology, and EMI Group, Bertelsmann and AOL Time Warner are putting together MusicNet, based on RealNetworks' technology.
To me it's clear that there is no competition in the music industry, and that is probably one of the reasons the record prices are high.
Besides that, the lack of competition makes that record companies can do everything they want, such as protecting CD's with copy protections, they don't have to fear that the competition doesn't use it.
Source: Cnet.com
