Music :: essays research papers

The Justice Department has intensified its antitrust investigation of the unison industrys licensing practices, acquireing that industry organizations and online companies submit a slew of documents related to net income medicine operate.The department recently began sending out "civil investigative demand" letter, hunting for evidence of collusion by get in companies and affiliates to impede competition. The recipients of the letters include the Recording Industry Assn. of America, at least two Internet companies and MusicNet, an online music distri only whenor jointly owned by three major labels and RealNetworks Inc.A copy of one letter obtained by The Times indicates that antitrust investigators are looking at all the terms proposed by the record companies and music publishers for their licenses, as well as the suits they threatened, brought or settled all over online music. Another issue being explored is the contentious negotiations over online radio services . The major labels control the copyrights to most of the recordings that consumers buy, while the publishers control the songwriters copyrights. That control gives the labels and publishers the power to regularise which companies can offer interactive or on-demand music services online, as well as influencing their prices and terms of use.The growing demand for online music services has led the conglomerates that own the major record companies to create their own bring for distribution. AOL Time Warner, Bertelsmann and EMI Group formed MusicNet, and Universal Music Group and Sony Corp. created Pressplay.The interrogative sentence appears to revolve around two questions Why are MusicNet and Pressplay the only ventures to beget licenses for a significant amount of major-label music? And what, if anything, did the labels do to inflate their royalties from online radio services?The record companies defenders say the labels have been cautious in licensing, but they havent colluded to limit competition. "I dont see it, and I havent experienced it," said redbreast D. Richards, chairman and chief executive of MP3.com, a maverick online music lodge that was acquired in August by Vivendi Universal and has a distribution mess with Pressplay.But executives at several online companies say they have had mixed experiences with the labels and that close to act fairly and some dont. The result, they say, is that the labels online ventures--MusicNet and Pressplay--are launching this year without any palpable competition.The industrys licensing practices also have drawn criticism from some influential lawmakers, including leading of the House and Senate Judiciary committees. In addition, the federal judge presiding over the industrys copyright-infringement lawsuit against Napster Inc.