The Korean Fair Trade Commission has fined 15 music companies a total of 18.8 billion Won ($16.9 million) for price-fixing.
According to Allkpop, which translated the ruling, the price-fixing began back in May 2008 when legal DRM-free music downloads were introduced to South Korean customers.
Companies fined include: “SK Telecom, Loen Entertainment, KT, KT Music, Mnet Media, Neowiz Bugs, Sony Music Entertainment Korea, Universal Music, Warner Music Korea, Yejun Media, Pony Canyon Korea, SM Entertainment, SBS Contents Hub, King Pin Entertainment and Direct Media.”
“In order to block competition coming from smaller businesses, the companies listed above rigged their own prices,” reads the translated ruling. “By rigging the prices in compliance with one another, they placed great harm on the consumers and other businesses in the industry.”
The Korean Fair Trade Commission said the companies pulled away from services that introduced DRM-free songs to allow for infinite downloads, leading companies to “discontinue products and certificates that catered to non-DRM songs.”
The companies also stop distributing songs to services that offered unlimited downloads.
A Commission representative said through a statement, “This is the first action being taken for the online music industry. No one is free when prices are rigged, so we hope other companies support this effort.”
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