Record Labels Suspected of Anti-Competitive Practices
The Swiss branch of the largest music industry trade group IFPI is under investigation for anti-competitive practices.
The Swiss Competition Commission (Wettbewerbskommission) is looking into the IFPI and its members, mostly prominent record labels.
A preliminary investigation started on 24 March 2011 and has revealed that IFPI Switzerland and its members hinder parallel CD imports. This prompted the Competition Commission to open a full investigation.
According to the press release (pdf) the music industry representatives are suspected of the following.
(1) hindrance of parallel imports (of cheaper CDs)
(2) blocking labels from becoming an IFPI member
(3) manipulation of the Swiss Music Charts through a non transparent selection process
This post is from the News Bits section of TorrentFreak where we present stories from around the web in a concise summary format. Full TorrentFreak articles can be found here. If you have a tip please let us know. News Bits have their very own RSS feed