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CD Price-Fixing Suit Ruling
Jay Langhurst writes "As the AP reported Friday, if you filed a claim before March 3, 2003 online or otherwise you'll be getting a gift in the mail from those monopolistic music companies in the form of a check for about $13!"
I'm still waiting for my check from Bill Gates... I must've forwarded that email to a billion people! :-) Huxley
Now I can go and buy another CD!
Strange that the settlement payout is about the price of a new CD. Coincidence?
You are standing in an open field west of a white house, with a boarded front door. There is a small mailbox here.
$13.00? I'd probably get more for recycling my stash of AOL CDs.
Doh! Now I wish I had bought all my music instead of debo-ing it from napster. Just think what I could do with $13.
To ensure perfect aim, shoot first and call whatever you hit the target
It's a petty settlement for the average consumer who has probably lost hundreds of dollars due to these bastards.
do they lower the prices?
"All I want is a warm bed and a kind word and unlimited power." - Ashleigh Brilliant
What they forgot to mention was that the RIAA will claim that the $13 should actually be $0.13 due to the extreme value of a dollar.
So does this ruling actually do anything about the ridiculus price of CD's or is it just a temporary dent in these companies' wallets that they are just going to recoup through their huge profit margins?
Now that it's been decided they're guilty, can we expect a roll-back of prices? I wouldn't pay $19.99 list for God's Own Words® let alone Madonna's.
.nosig
to send a donation to xiph.org or towards the purchase of software that uses Ogg Vorbis. That will really screw their plans if enough of us do it.
Un-news
Well, that seems to be enough to buy a CD at Best Buy or otherwise. Not half bad if you consume a lot of music; you just got a freebie!
Here in Canada, a CD is typically $19.99 + tax. (In Manitoba, it's 14% - 7% GST, 7% PST) Total cost of CD = $22.79.
:)
However, I do not believe that the ruling in question applies to Canada. (I haven't read the article -- keep getting distracted by Blazing Saddles.
We've got the recording industry in a vulnerable spot. It's time to withhold cash from them and go in for the kill.
I'm generally "Interesting," "Insightful," and even "Funny" here. What the hell happens to me at parties?
sue their customers, that should fix their reputation.
Yeah yeah... 13$ is about the price of a CD... so whatever you don't feed it right back into the machine that is the RIAA... instead go donate it to a good cause like the couple below (no affiliation)
boycott-riaa.com
digital-consumer.org
do something useful and fight this idiotic RIAA crap!
me 2
It clearly says it's a settlement.
Now, you would have had to read a whole 6 words to figgure that out, so posting a question was so much easier.
Just to clear things up a bit more, since you won't read the article, here is a quote:
" The defendants â" Sony Music Entertainment, EMI Music Distribution, Warner-Elektra-Atlantic Corp., Universal Music Group and Bertelsmann Music Group, and retailers Tower Records, Musicland Stores and Transworld Entertainment â" deny any wrongdoing. Attorneys representing the companies declined to testify in court. "
I really didn't expect to get any money from it, especially after it was posted on /. If enough people signed up to make it too expensive to send out too small of a check, they were just going to give donations to charity. I'm certainly suprised to see it's at $13 a chack, as opposed to the maximum $20.
How should I spend this moeny? Maybe we can start some sort of collective slashdot "Anti-RIAA/MPAA fund" out of all the checks we get. I doubt we could all agree on 1 use for the moeny that hurts the RIAA, but it's sure be nice (and fun).
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. It's just that yours is stupid.
That $13.00 will go towards the monthly fee for my DSL, so that I may continue to use Kazaa.
The coolest voice ever.
and for those of use who didn't file, we don't get shit. Nice.
How bout something that helps everyone, like the price of a cd being lowered?
YOU SUCK BALLS!
I own about 500 CDs. $13.00 works out to about two and a half cents per CD. Is that all they were gouging me for?
It's actually $45.5 million out of RIAA pockets in total. Sure, not that much considering the size of RIAA. But at least they'll feel the pinch.
Now that we have precedence, maybe there should be waves upon waves of this class action. If there is relentless waves of such cases, hopefully the RIAA will get the point, and look at other distribution models more carefully...
Not that I'm holding my breath anyway.
Welley Corporation - SLM Scammers
They're really not just garage bands anymore. Go browse your favorite style of music over at CD Baby, and check out their editor's picks. Really amazing stuff there, and all of your money goes directly to the MUSICIAN not to the very record labels who this lawsuit was against!
are you a weapon of male destruction? you need one of our snazzy t-shirts
All I Want For Christmas Is My Constitutional Rights
In the grand scheme of things can someone different bring up this same lawsuit again? Or once it has been settled is it considered moot?
Umm, only $13? Good thing 'we' 3.5 million people settled this case.
The real winners here, of course, are the lawyers. A large portion of the remaining $23.3 million goes to them.
Just a hunch, but I imagine it comes out to a tad more than $13 for each for them.
IANAL, but right now I wish I was.
bug.gd: error search engine. Humanity working together to solve all errors.
Unless I go to BestBuy, a new CD in most stores around here are $17 + sales tax.
Jory
i've begun to wonder if CDs are overpriced. Personally, I've always thought that they were, but lately, Mac has been selling songs at $1 a peice, and at 13 songs to a CD, the price of an album from Mac is $13. The sales indicate that a large percent of people bought entire albums from Mac. Therefore, the price of a Mac album is approximately equivalent to a CD from best buy. Some stores still charge $20 for an album, but not all.
YOU SUCK BALLS!
Correct me if I am wrong here, but the recording industry doesn't pay nearly as much as ~$13.50 to make CDs - which is the price they are using to determine how many 'free' CDs they are giving schools, libraries, etc.
:P
So maybe we should start another lawsuit on this new case of price-fixing.
There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion. -- Francis Bacon
--
the strongest word is still the word "free"
The settlement was for a fixed sum. The amount of money that was distributed to each indivdual was based upon how many individuals submitted a claim.
It was going to be in an amount between $5 and $20. If too many made the claim then the money would be donated to local charities (or somthing like that) in the given areas becasue the administration costs (plus postage costs) for mailing x million $3 checks out simply wasn't worth it.
In all honesty, I'm suprised that didn't happen.
This settlement is a rip-off. By far not a long term solution. I guess the only benefit than can be gotten from it is if people donate their newly acquired riches to xiph.org or a similarly focused group. At least that way we're looking at a more long-term solution to combatting artificially inflated prices.
Will I have my hair cut, get my car hot-waxed, or buy a $13 hammer?
that was DOS'd for the last few days before march 3 2003. makes you wonder if the riaa did that to recude the number of payouts or total dollar amount. i own thousands of CD's and couldn't get onto that damn site, even at 3 AM!
There are many great places to spend money on music if you want to avoid Walmart/BestBuy and RIAA.. CD Baby (www.cdbaby.com) is a great placed.
/ a>. My playlists is small but growing....
<br>
I was also inspired to create my own heavy rock radio station (rock/metal/stoner/punk ect ect) that caters to the little guys. I try to play 40%-50% indie/local/garage bands. So..if you feel inspred check out Fight For Rock <a href="www.fightforrock.com">www.fightforrock.com<
http://loudcity.net - Keeping Internet Radio Legal, Afford
Hey, that's 13 songs I can download from the iTunes Music Store!!
gee, 13 bucks, no matter how many CDs I bought. And they obviously just keep on price fixing.
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
Getting yourself outta debt from all that credit card spending. Seriously, who DOESN'T have CC debt, I know I have alot and it's my own damn fault. In fact, consumers are more in debt collectively then our government (US). At least taxes are being lowered, that's the step in the right direction.
Life is not for the lazy.
Lets See... how many things can I buy off of the dollar menu (at mcdonalds) now...
Plaintiffs allege that the Defendants conspired to illegally raise the prices of prerecorded Music Products by implementing Minimum Advertised Price policies, in violation of State and Federal laws.
I thought that was illegal... Now someone explain to me, why is it that I still hear so many commercials saying "prices so low we're not even allowed to say them here!" And then someone else tell me, where can I buy popular dvds wholesale?
$75.7 million/5.6 million CDs = $13.52 per CD. But isn't that the 'fixed' price for CDs? Wasn't this suit about how they should be priced much lower?
This strikes me much like the proposed settlement in the Microsoft case that had them distributing several hundred milliion dollars worth of software and operating systems to schools. In that case, it was a little bit more blatant, since it was obviously an attempt to use the settlement to undercut Apple's education market without fear of repercussions. In both, though, the settlement is for an inflated dollar value that doesn't really reflect the cost of the product they're distributing.
-T
You have a secret stash of AOL cd's? hmmm... may I recommend Dr. Jack Kavorkian??
what happens to all the checks that are returned by the post office?
You know, when this story was floating around, I would try to share it with everyone and the replies were "We wont get shit, why should I waste my time, its spam, etc."
Now I will have $13 and they will not. $13? Thats a free pizza + a good tip for the driver.
I love class action lawsuits!
The ultimate network admin tool needs HELP!
We all do it; we listen to .mp3s of a certain artist, and if there's only one song that's worth a damn, we scrap all the others, and most of the time the good one as well, since it will likely follow so many others into the hole where the tired one-hit-wonders are always abandoned, relegated to the Hey, Remember The 80's?-style radio shows.
If the project has a few good songs on it, or if it's one of those rare gems that is actually composed (sorry) entirely of good music, we buy the disc so:
I see nothing wrong with this, and my "musician side" has to concur with the likes of Alanis Morissette rather than Metallica; in the long run, it's a benefit to be able to reach the audience that will be able to appreciate your music than to try and track every single copy for the nickels and dimes. Plus, as Lars proved to the world, anyone who DOES is just a jackass.IANARS (rock star), but with what insight I have gained about the industry has led me to always seek out the best source from the band's perspective to get my own copy of the CD. If they've got a website, I order it there. Granted, used CDs are cheaper, but the artist never sees a dime of that resale money. Of course, on the shinier side of that coin, if the RIAA gets any of it, it's a lot smaller cut if any at all (usually none, but not always).
And sorry, but this topic is just too close to perfect for my resistance to "insert shameless plug;"
you can hear one of my bands here.
;)
zedmelon
Mom says my
What valid reason is there to not allow producers of a product to charge whatever price they wish for the product? They're making it; they have every right to sell it for whatever they want.
"Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?"
That's ok, keep your money and I'll settle my claim via kazaa.
"And a voice was screaming: 'Holy Jesus! What are these goddamn animals?'" - HST
"That's ok, keep your money and I'll settle my claim via kazaa."
i think i have a new sig.
---- oh no - it's the RIAA and their $100000000 fine. I'm gonna take that so seriously...
Crap. According to this (which is supposed to be in this frameset) the deadline is past for excluding myself.
I never included myself, so I don't get a settlement, and I don't care about that because I didn't want those settlement terms, anyway.
But since I didn't explicitly exclude myself, does that mean I've lost all legal options to pursue a claim that they conspired to price gouge me?
Just a heads-up, I'm biased as I work at a record store...
The Eagles just released a single and instead of selling it through everybody, they only are selling it through one retailer! So even though the "price fixing" lawsuit finished, by selling through only one retailer, the music consumer ends up paying a higher price because the retailer doesn't have to compete for business. Using this Eagles single and the new Metallica as an example:
The new Metallica: loads of competition. Best Buy price for first week: 9.99. Wholesale price to record stores (and Best Buy): 11 bucks and change. Net Margin? Negative!
The Eagles DVD single. no competition. Best Buy price: 6.99. Wholesale price to record stores (and Best Buy): 4-5 bucks. Net Margin? 28-40%
Also, compare the price of that DVD single with others --- a lot of DVD singles have run only a couple of bucks (heck, the last McCartney DVD single was actually FREE to encourage people to buy the full length) --- so in this case the manufacturer actually raised their price also because there would be no competition on it.
The frustrating thing about this is that the Eagles are directly responsible - they made this big deal about leaving all the major record companies - but when they did, they made even worse decisions than the major record companies did - independent record stores like mine are locked out from selling the record, while the one major company makes big bucks on it. Considering all the BS Don Henley gives about fighting corporations and such, he's just a washed up hypocrite.
The music she's bought is good stuff. I recommend you all check it out.
In the ultimate move of spite, take the $13 the RIAA is settling with and give it back to Jesse Jordan, the student who's life savings was taken by the RIAA in a "symbolic move." It's his money, we're just giving it back to him.
It's not stupid. It's advanced.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Wonder how they feel about people realizing there is definitely a valid reason not to pay for CDs from them? Has anyone done the math for how much EXTRA profit they made? That would be interesting; once we all meet that one times 3 (damages), then they can maybe cry.
Hell, it's not like a lot of us don't buy the CDs we really like. I honestly never use Kazaa (don't trust it), but I then again, I don't listen to music much and I NEVER buy CDs because I thought they were too expensive years ago. $15-20 for 1 good song? Screw that.
At CD Baby, how do you verify that the artists wrote their own songs? If you require this as a contractual guarantee from the artist, how can an artist make such a guarantee that he did not unconsciously copy the song from somebody else ( Bright Tunes v. Harrisongs )? There's something in my journal about that.
Will I retire or break 10K?
I can see it now: "3 million consumers settled a lawsuit initiated by the RIAA which claimed that they lied about whether or not they had bought CDs. The defendants denied all wrongdoing, and settled the claim for $0.13 each, payable in free advertising on their fan websites." If only justice could be that fair.
I filed a claim!!! woo 13 bucks from the RIAA!!!
I am the Alpha and the Omega-3
Comment removed based on user account deletion
This case was little to do with consumer rights and a lot to do with lawyers filling their pockets. They seem to have scooped the cash and Joe Public gets a discount on his next overpriced purchase.
Now that it has been decided that there was price-fixing for Jan 1, 1995 to Dec 22, 2000; what about Dec 23, 2000 - Now?
Will prices of CDs go down? Will there be another class-action?
Will the prices go up? Will the RIAA say "We just had a lawsuit and we would cut CD prices, but there is still file-sharing and cannot afford it."
Lots of questions, no answers.
When modding "Informative", please make sure it both has a source and IS actually informative.
I want it from the R.I.A.A!
They instigated it didn't they ?
Hmmm, $13 faculty, let's see, that's $6227020800, not bad.
His life savings was $12,000. $13 is about 0.1083% of that.
STOP MISUSING APOSTROPHES, YOU MORONS!!!
A lot of people don't realize that class action law-suits are more of a protection for the parties being sued (like the RIAA) than anything else. It means that they can deal with the issue once, and then not have to worry about more litigation later on for the same issue.
As a lot of people here are discussing, it was up to THEM to either join or explicitly exlude themselves from the suit. Even if they didn't know about it, they're screwed from future actions similar to this.
$0.02 (CDN)
And i never signed the form, does that mean i can still sue?
I have over 500 LEGAL cds in my collection. I am owed more then a tiny 13 dollars.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
why not start a drive to donate all of these 13.00 checks to those college students who had their life savings taken from them by the RIAA.
If they notify me via email that looks like spam I will probably just delete it. Same thing if it is paper mail that looks like junk mail.
Somebody, when they start the refunds please post info on what the refund looks like.
Now I can buy another 50 CD spindle and pirate some more music!
</sarcasm>
Seriously, I'll take the cash and buy a CD from an indy band or maybe the new Evanescence..
Cruising the internet on my TI-99/4A @ a whopping 300 baud!
Many manufacturers have co-op advertising programs, where they subsidize the advertising of their products by retailers. If you are a retailer and you want to participate in the program, you have to follow the manufacturer's rules. For example, Intel wants their logo displayed in the ad plus you have to play their jingle if it's on television. They may prohibit the retailer from advertising the price if it's below a minimum price set by the manufacturer. The manufacturer is not prohibiting the retailer from selling at a lower price, they just can't use manufacturer subsidized advertising to advertise that price.
Mea navis aericumbens anguillis abundat
The other $7 must have gone back to the lawyers. I can't even buy a new CD for $13. This sucks.
"On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog!" - a dog
I see. I guess that makes sense.
Now if I can only figure out how to buy DVDs wholesale...
Well, I've considered Don Henley rather hypocritical ever since I heard his attacks on MP3 file sharing. On one hand, he protests all the raw deals the record companies give artists, but then he sides with them by decrying file sharing by his own fans?
I suppose he sees the two issues as unrelated - but that's a viewpoint one can only have while wearing blinders, IMHO. The fact is, people have been making copies of music ever since they were first able to record it. Anyone downloading an artist's work via the Internet is above all else, showing their loyalty to that musician's work. (Why would you bother downloading music you didn't like?) As a former musician myself, I would have been proud to see any of my music logging thousands of "pirate" downloads. It means I'm getting exposure, which is the most valuable thing of all for an artist. Instead of counting theoretical lost pennies for every "illegal download" one can track down, it's much more useful to accept file sharing as part of the culture.
For only 70 cents a day, you can make sure that a needy child refers to Linux as GNU/Linux.
-Looking for a job as a materials chemist or multivariat
that this begain, press release from the FTC.
They are paying $13.00. The printing presses of the govt. run at twice speed. So you are only getting... uhm... $6.50.
My bux are going toward a new pair of Levis.
qz
What if the RIAA continues to artificially inflate prices? If I buy another CD wouldn't that entitle me to sue them again for price gauging? I mean if someone punches me, I settle with them for a monetary amount and say it wasn't assault, that doesn't now give that person the right to continue punching me.
But the point is this: not only does Henley's hypocrisy have him fighting corporations, but remember a couple of years ago when his legal team sent threatening letters to one Donald Henley for registering a domain name in his own name? You see, despite the latter Mr. Henley firmly expressing that he is in no way affiliated with any particular rock group, the former Mr. Henley proceeded to threaten legal action for what has become to be known as "cybersquatting". The "defendant" has kept good records of the dispute, which has as of yet amounted to little more than threats.
Funny how trademark law works, though. You see, if Mr. Donald Henley hadn't clearly acknowledged on his web site that he was in no way affiliated with the singer, then the Eagles front man might actually have a case. The fact that the "defendant" was even aware of his namesake's celebrity would be enough to have the domain name effectively stolen.
Ah, the perks of fame... I suppose they go nicely with the inability to do normal things like normal people in normal places without being mobbed.
WHY WASN'T I TOLD OF THIS???
As was mentioned on Chewplastic's site, we might want to consider also doanting to Daniel Peng, another student who was hit by the RIAA at the same time. He seems to be having a harder time getting donations since he hasn't had as much media attention as Jesse Jordan did. Plus Jesse seems like he's not that far from getting his money back and I know the RIAA is sending out a WHOLE LOTTA CHECKS.
On a brief sidenote, this makes me very proud in the redeming qualities of the Internet and the overwhelming spirit of helping the Davids of the world fight thier Goliaths.
It's not stupid. It's advanced.
In addition to outfits like cdbaby.com, there are a few other gatherings of indie artists such as dmusic.com, which features music by a hideous amount of artists.
:)
I've been sticking primarily to the "electronica" section of dmusic, and I've been pleasantly suprised with the quality of many of the artists and their work. (Arthen, mux, dithyramb, skender, groovetronic, to name a few.) Go check em out... While the files aren't CD quality, it still sounds good at 192+kbps.
I'd say that they would argue that it is still the same, original infraction, therefore is covered under the original class-action settlement. They'd probably come up with some crap about them having to do studies before setting new prices, or some drivel about inflation catching up with the prices.
After all, have they stopped gauging us? I'd say "no".
But that's the problem... this is now a class-action lawsuit, so it's not about YOU being involved in a single action, it's about a group of people being involved in a single lawsuit that covers a number of similar actions.
My head hurts.
$0.02 (CDN)
BUT... I'll bite, just in case some other retard sees what you posted and without thinking about it for half a second, assumes there's any validity to your imbecilic remark.
No one has said that there will be famous artists at CD Baby dot com; all that was said was that there is good music (fitting literally ANYone's taste) to be found on the site. Hell, if you could read at all, you would have seen that their tagline is
Independent music? Hmmmmm... THAT sounds like RIAA material to ME. The fact that your little survey didn't take you all night should say something as well.If you hit the page expecting someone you've heard streaming over the airwaves, you might find them, but it's not likely, since most artists who have reached that scale of marketability don't need it. The web site is only useful to bands whose target audience is aware of the site's existence, and no single website is as popular or ubiquitous as radio. To find music, search for a genre of music you know you already like. Or search for a famous artist to whom lesser-known bands will claim similarities. Search for "metallica," and you'll find over 170 matches, but none of the matches actually ARE metallica. But I'll bet you a dollar that if you LIKE metallica, you'll find music there that ISN'T metallica, but you still like.
The fact that you can't find any of your "non-RIAA" artists on CD Baby doesn't prove a flippin' thing, except that none of YOUR friends have set up pages for their bands there. Do your buddies a favor, and TELL them to register there! And while they're at it, mp3.com as well. How long could it take? The only reason they'd regret it is if they truly suck, and no one that hit the page ever cared to download .mp3s or purchase CDs. Some music is targeted to a very narrow audience, and registering there will always sell a few more discs that if it wasn't listed on the site. If you really think it's a waste of your time, forget it, but I hope someday you realize just how closed your mind really is.
By the way, Einstein... there was a time when mp3.com was as small as CD Baby is right now.
Mom says my
I realize that it's probably heresy, but I'm gonna use the $13 to get the new Metallica album. Yeah, I know it's still feeding the RIAA beast.
However, there's a lot of noise made on this forum like:
"Well, I'd buy the CD if it wasn't so much!"
"Bands should offer additional stuff when I buy a CD."
"The bands don't get any money anyway, so I'm only 'stealing' from the RIAA"
Well, I like Metallica's music. It's only $11-13, depending on where you look, and there's a full-length DVD as well. Also, there's supposed to be some other goodies available to buyers from the Metallica website. This seems like a pretty good value.
I can already hear the knee-jerk reactions coming. I don't care. If you're still too tight to buy it, then all of the ethical cartwheels you're turning to justify your Kazaa habit are just bullshit!
In general, CD prices are absolutely inflated. But the CD in question has been sold for considerably less than every other new CD since it was released and it comes with the free DVD. If it came with the "free" DVD but was the standard price of a CD or higher, that would be one thing. I can't remember the last time I bought a new CD from a major-label band for $9.99--and this one came with a cool bonus DVD that I've never seen any other band do.
Perl - $Just @when->$you ${thought} s/yn/tax/ &couldn\'t %get $worse;
Thanks for the tip. They hanve free shipping and seem to have good prices on many cd's, but my favorite is this:
Boats, Beaches, Bars & Ballads [Box]
Why Pay $59.98?
Our Price: $59.98
t'nera semordnilap
Buy a CD from an indie band covered under an Indie label
BEWARE however! Many indie labels are really major labels hiding out under a different name/suubsidiary. Do your research beforehand!
Cheers.
Cool! Amazing Toys.
Something about this doesn't seem right... So I can buy a 2:30 radio-ready pop song for the same price as a 15-minute Pink Floyd song? Take "Wish you were Here" with its 5 tracks. That costs $4.95. But "Hangin' Tough" by New Kids on the Block will run me $9.95?
There is ALREADY a huge incentive for bands to produce short "radio-ready" songs that play well on the air. Now, this rule seems to supply even MORE incentive to shorten tracks. Why produce a 7 minute song when a song half that long (with its reduced production costs) brings in the same amount of money?
Hmm... seems to me this licensing scheme hasn't been perfected yet...
will be as effective as geting MS to show code to competitors.
,the music bohemoths donated 5.5 million cds to charities like ibraries, where you can rip away to your heart's content.
The ruling here calls for an injunction for the anticompetitive behavior. Even though defendants deny such behavior, if cds stay at the same price for a longish period of time (say, a year), the state ag's will rush in and once again do their thing.
And according to the NV AG
Or rip from the radio to your PC. This has got to frighten the RIAA.
Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain with all your metadata.