Add DOJ investigating Apple

TOLD YOU SO: I.B. Bad outed this practice his column posted on Jan. 15. “In what retail watchers are likening to the old days of brick-and-mortar, Apple appears to be playing hardball with labels that attempt to place exclusives on high-profile acts with Amazon MP3,” wrote our in-house pundit. “Last week, the iTunes Store pulled the marketing on Katharine McPhee after Amazon put her new Verve release on sale for $3.99, the sudden disappearing act causing the album, which had been Top 10 at iTunes before the yank, to plummet. Absent from the iTunes welcome page this week are XL’s Vampire Weekend and Musicworks’ Omarion, Amazon MP3’s current $3.99 specials—though Vampire Weekend is iTunes’ #1 album nonetheless, with a shot at topping next week’s chart.” Also see our 3/3 story. (5/26a)