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The Justice Department has intensified its antitrust investigation of the music industry's licensing practices, demanding that industry organizations and online companies submit a slew of documents related to Internet music services. The department recently began sending out "civil investigative demand" letters, hunting for evidence of collusion by record companies and affiliates to impede competition. The recipients of the letters include the Recording Industry Assn. of America, at least two Internet companies and MusicNet, an online music distributor jointly owned by three major labels and RealNetworks Inc. A copy of one letter obtained by The Times indicates that antitrust investigators are looking at all the terms proposed by the record companies and music publishers for their licenses, as well as the lawsuits they threatened, brought or settled over online music. Another issue being explored is the contentious negotiations over online radio services. The major labels control the copyrights to most of the recordings that consumers buy, while the publishers control the songwriters' copyrights. That control gives the labels and publishers the power to dictate which companies can offer interactive or on-demand music services online, as well as influencing their prices and terms of use. The growing demand for online music services has led the conglomerates that own the major record companies to create their own channels for distribution. AOL Time Warner, Bertelsmann and EMI Group formed MusicNet, and Universal Music Group and Sony Corp. created Pressplay. The inquiry appears to revolve around two questions: Why are MusicNet and Pressplay the only ventures to receive licenses for a significant amount of major-label music? And what, if anything, did the labels do to inflate their royalties from online radio services? The record companies' defenders say the labels have been cautious in licensing, but they haven't colluded to limit competition. "I don't see it, and I haven't experienced it," said Robin D. Richards, chairman and chief executive of MP3.com, a maverick online music company that was acquired in August by Vivendi Universal and has a distribution deal with Pressplay. But executives at several online companies say they have had mixed experiences with the labels and that some act fairly and some don't. The result, they say, is that the labels' online ventures--MusicNet and Pressplay--are launching this year without any real competition. The industry's licensing practices also have drawn criticism from some influential lawmakers, including leaders of the House and Senate Judiciary committees. In addition, the federal judge presiding over the industry's copyright-infringement lawsuit against Napster Inc.