Fines against instrument dealers
The German Federal Cartel Office has imposed fines totaling around 21 million euros on three manufacturers and two retailers of musical instruments as well as on responsible employees. The manufacturers and dealers are accused of vertical price fixing.
According to the press release, the manufacturers (or their sales companies) are Yamaha Music Europe GmbH, Rellingen, Roland Germany GmbH, Rüsselsheim and Fender Musical Instruments GmbH, Düsseldorf. The dealers are Thomann GmbH, Burgebrach and Music store professional GmbH, Cologne. The proceedings were initiated following information from the market with a search in April 2018.
There was an agreement between manufacturers and dealers to implement the manufacturers' minimum price specifications. If the minimum retail prices were not met, the responsible employees of Yamaha, Roland and Fender contacted Thomann and Music Store on several occasions and asked these dealers to adjust their retail prices, which was done in many cases. Yamaha and Roland also used price tracking software in some cases to monitor retail prices.
Original article:
https://www.bundeskartellamt.de/SharedDocs/Meldung/DE/Pressemitteilungen/2021/05_08_2021_Musikinstrumente.html?nn=3591568
