The European Commission has begun preliminary antitrust investigations into MusicNet and PressPlay. Both MusicNet and PressPlay are upcoming music services backed by the big boys of the recording industry. MusicNet is backed by RealNetworks, Warner Music Group, EMI Recorded Music, and BMG Entertainment. PressPlay, which until today was known as Duet, is backed by Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment.
According to European Competition Commissioner Mario Monti "there are potentially a number of issues which merit close examination." What these issues might be is yet unknown. European antitrust-laws have been more than a small annoyance in the recent media mergers. It is said that the EMI -Warner/Bertelsmann mergers failed due to these laws.
