The U.S. Department of Justice opened a probe into the big music labels online song pricing. The probe seeks to confirm whether or not the major labels conspired to fix the price of online music downloads.

This investigation follows closely on the heels of a similiar investigation by New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, who is also looking into alleged "pay-for-play" payola scandals in the radio industry. Sony got pounded on that one.

A few subpoenas have already gone out with more to come. I doubt seriously, though, that this will have any real impact on the music industry. Steve Jobs recently called them "greedy" for trying to impose variable pricing per song on music downloads... stating that some songs are "worth more than others". While others feel it is simply a way to blackmail new and existing artists when contract negotiations come around. After all, if the song is sold online "on the cheap" does that not give the potential buyer the thought that since this song is cheaper than some other song that the cheaper song is not as good as the more expensive one? You get what you pay for, right?

Let's see how this one turns out... Click here to read more about this over at CNet.