VENDOMUSICA/RECORD COMPANIES (Start of full phase investigation)
PRESS RELEASE
The Italian Competition Authority has initiated a proceeding against Warner Musica Italia, Polygram Italia, EMI Italiana, BMG Ricordi, Sony Music Entertainment and the Italian Federation of the Phonographic Industry (FIMI), in order to investigate an alleged restrictive agreement. The parties involved in the proceeding are the Italian branches of the main multinational record companies, the so-called majors.
The investigation deals with alleged agreements or concerted practices amongst the above mentioned record companies, which are aimed at fixing commercial policies, selling prices and other contractual conditions.
On the basis of the information collected by the Authority, in fact, the sale conditions of recorded music practised by the majors, and, in particular, the wholesale prices of compact discs and digital tapes, proved to be almost uniform during the last five years, with slight variations in the average price.
The majors hold an overall share equal to approximately 90 percent of the domestic market of the production and sale of compact discs and cassettes. In addition, all the majors impose the same contractual conditions on their retailers.
Therefore, the Authority deemed that the uniformities in the contractual conditions and selling prices imposed on the retailers by the majors could be the effect of agreements or concerted practices, in violation of Section 2, subsection 2, of Law no. 287/90.
The Italian Federation of the Phonographic Industry (FIMI), which was founded by the main record companies, might be the association within which the alleged agreements are stipulated.