Some good news here: online music pricing is to come under the scrutiny of the US Department of Justice. The DoJ has seemingly already issued subpoenas to Sony BMG, with others coming for Warner Music Group, EMI, Vivendi Universal and others.
At issue is believed to be the pricing levels charged for music downloads and, specifically, whether the labels have colluded over price fixing. Related to this are the licensing renegotiations with Apple. While Steve Jobs has favoured a fixed 99 cent charge per track, the labels have been keen to pursue variable pricing, charging as little as 19 cents for some songs but more than 99 cents for new releases by major artists.