Are the technology and music industries engaged in price-fixing?

Bloomberg: Apple, Amazon, Google Agree to Royalties on Cloud Service

“The Digital Media Association, which represents technology companies, the Recording Industry Association of America and the National Music Publishers Association reached an agreement to set rates for 2013 to 2017. The contract will be submitted to the Washington-based Copyright Royalty Board for ratification, the groups said in an e-mailed statement yesterday.”

This isn’t a rhetorical question: Is what the technology and music industries are doing here a case of price-fixing? Is it legal?

I’m not a lawyer, so I have no idea from a legal perspective, but it strikes me that artists and musicians are conspicuously absent when it comes to this agreement. The only parties represented are big tech companies, big record companies, and big government.

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