Apple to standardize iTunes Store music prices throughout Europe; EU kills antitrust case

Apple today announced that within six months it will lower the prices it charges for music on its UK iTunes Store to match the already standardized pricing on iTunes across Europe in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Finland, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland and Spain. Apple currently must pay some record labels more to distribute their music in the UK than it pays them to distribute the same music elsewhere in Europe. Apple will reconsider its continuing relationship in the UK with any record label that does not lower its wholesale prices in the UK to the pan-European level within six months.

“This is an important step towards a pan-European marketplace for music,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO, in the press release. “We hope every major record label will take a pan-European view of pricing.”

Source: Apple Inc.

Thomson Financial reports, “The European Commission said it will not take further action against Apple Inc and major record companies in an antitrust investigation over the pricing of songs on the US group’s iTunes online music store.”

Full article here.

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