New York’s attorney general is investigating whether the four record companies that dominate the industry have violated antitrust laws in the pricing of songs sold online, according to people involved in the inquiry.
Eliot Spitzer’s office recently began serving subpoenas on the major record companies, according to the people involved. The companies are Universal Music Group, a unit of Vivendi Universal; Sony BMG Music Entertainment, a joint venture of Sony and Bertelsmann; the EMI Group; and the Warner Music Group.
Warner Music disclosed Friday in a regulatory filing that it had received a subpoena on Tuesday in connection with an "industrywide investigation" into whether the companies colluded in the pricing of music downloads.
Representatives for Warner and Sony BMG said their companies would cooperate with the investigation. Representatives for the other major companies could not be reached or declined to comment.
