DoJ investigating music industry

The Department of Justice announced that it's investigating the music industry -- apparently in regard to possible collusion in pricing of music downloads.

...two music industry sources said on Thursday the DOJ's probe appeared to be focused on ... whether the labels colluded to set wholesale pricing for song downloads.

The investigation also could be related to licensing renegotiations with Apple Computer Inc.'s, maker of the wildly popular iPod digital music player, for its iTunes music store, industry sources have said.

The major players in the industry were smacked down a few years back by the Federal Trade Commission for collusion in regard to minimum advertised price policies in their advertising programs, which the FTC said amounted to price-fixing. One wonders if (in the event the allegation pan out) the previous case would cause this to be viewed as a "repeat offender" situation.