RECORDING COMPANIES QUESTIONED : JUSTICE DEPARTMENT, FTC HOLDING PROBES.Byline: Farrell Kramer and John Solomon John Lewis Solomon (born May 23 1950) is a public servant and former Canadian politician. Since 2001, he has been chair of Saskatchewan's Workers' Compensation Board. He was previously a provincial and federal politician. Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. The major recording companies - the forces behind stars from Sinatra to Smashing Pumpkins - are being investigated by two federal agencies trying to find out if they have manipulated CD prices or built an overseas monopoly for music videos. The Federal Trade Commission notified recording companies last month that it was opening a preliminary inquiry into their giving retailers advertising assistance in exchange for agreeing to a minimum price for compact discs, lawyers confirmed. CDs, a staple of college dormitories and living rooms alike, remain higher priced than tape cassettes. The industry - dominated by the six giants: Sony, Time-Warner, MCA MCA in full Music Corporation of America Entertainment conglomerate. It was founded in Chicago in 1924 by Jules Stein as a talent agency. In the 1960s it bought Decca Records and Universal Pictures, and today it produces films, music, and television shows. , PolyGram, Bertelsmann and EMI (ElectroMagnetic Interference) An electrical disturbance in a system due to natural phenomena, low-frequency waves from electromechanical devices or high-frequency waves (RFI) from chips and other electronic devices. Allowable limits are governed by the FCC. Music - was caught off guard by the notification from the FTC FTC See Federal Trade Commission (FTC). , which had concluded a similar price-fixing investigation six months ago without taking action. ``It came as a complete surprise. I thought they had closed this inquiry last October,'' said Irving Scher, a New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of lawyer representing EMI Music. In a separate inquiry, the Justice Department won a court order earlier this year requiring the six major recording companies to surrender documents on how programmers such as MTV MTV in full Music Television U.S. cable television network, established in 1980 to present videos of musicians and singers performing new rock music. MTV won a wide following among rock-music fans worldwide and greatly affected the popular-music business. are charged for music videos distributed overseas. The ruling in January from U.S. District Judge Harold Greene in Washington gave new life to an investigation begun in 1994 into the industry's use of overseas groups, called ``performance rights societies,'' to sell rights to music videos. Investigators are trying to determine whether the societies have acted as ``price-fixing cartels'' and whether they have ``impeded'' the export of U.S. music videos, according to Justice Department records included in the court case. The recording giants tried unsuccessfully to block the Justice Department's probe, arguing it did not have authority to review overseas practices. The CD industry, which generates revenue of about $9.4 billion a year, is no stranger to criticism. Even before the latest FTC inquiry, it faced one lawsuit in California that has been dismissed and another that continues in Tennessee alleging prices were artificially inflated. Top-selling CDs typically sell for between $12 and $16 each. |
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