Amazon has modified Kindle ebook contracts followed by the EU investigation

Amazon accepts the new contract terms with book publishers in the European Union after an investigation into Amazon’s practices was led by Commissioner Margrethe Vestager. After the decision, Amazon is no longer going to force the publishers to provide best price on Amazon’s Kindle store.

The investigation was started a couple of years ago as the publishers started worrying that Amazon’s contracts would be hurting everyone’s bottom line. Because of that clause, publishers would not be able to sell their books on any other platform for a cheaper price.

This practice by Amazon used to increase its competitive advantage and had been creating a race to the bottom. Now, the publishers tend to have a bit of power against Amazon’s practices. And now after this decision, other distribution platforms like Apple’s iBooks Store are going to able to compete more easily.
Publishers would be able to renegotiate their contracts now, and especially on the pricing part. Amazon is no longer supposed to pressurize the publisher for the best price in new contracts.

Amazon has to accept these demands so that it doesn’t have to pay any fines following the investigation. Also, the ebook market had been more or less stagnated for the last few years. It is no longer going to be the hot new thing that it used to be five years ago. People do like buying actual books after as well.

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