iTunes Music Prices to be Standardised Throughout Europe.

Apple has announced that within six months it will lower the prices it charges for music on its UK iTunes Store to match the already standardised pricing on iTunes across Europe.

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. “We hope every major record label will take a pan-European view of pricing”.

In April of 2007 the European Commission started an investigation into iTunes music pricing in Europe as they beleived it violated the EC Treaty's rules prohibiting restrictive business practices. Commenting on the outcome, Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes said "The Commission is very much in favour of solutions which allow consumers to benefit from a truly Single Market for music downloads."

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