Andre Yoskowitz
26 May 2010 22:12
According to sources close to the talks, it appears the U.S. Justice Department has been looking into whether Apple "unfairly dominates" the digital music market with its popular iTunes store.
The sources say the Justice Department has been contacting music labels and other digital music providers, asking broad questions about the nature of the market in general, and Apple's role in it.
The new inquiries may have been stemmed by accusations in March that Apple was using its giant market share lead to prevent rival Amazon MP3 from debuting new songs exclusively before they hit iTunes a day or two later.
The iTunes store currently has about 70 percent market share, with Amazon trailing at around 9 percent.
Global music sales have fallen from $26.5 billion at the start of the decade to just $17 billion last year, even as digital music sales have exploded.