Spitzer Takes On Labels For Download Price Fixing

As the year comes to a close, news reports confirm that NY Attorney General and gubernatorial candidate Eliot Spitzer has subpoenaed the big four record conglomerates in a new probe to determine if they participated in price fixing in the digital realm.  While the labels have paid big fines to settle price fixing charges by Spitser and others on physical product in recent years; this is the first such probe of digital distribution.

Ironically it comes at a time when a number of label heads are calling loudly for more variable pricing at the download services hoping to reach higher profit margins by charging a premium for hit product.  Apple and the other download services are resisting claiming  that variable pricing is  unfair to consumers and poses a programming nightmare.

One has to wonder if the real insider discussions this holiday on the slopes of Aspen and poolside at the Canyon Ranch aren’t about starting an A.B.E. (Anybody But Eliot) Campaign Fund rather than wring an extra nickle out of the few folsk who actually download music legally.