Record Industry Settles Price Fixing Lawsuit

[EricK]

There was an article in my local paper yesterday about this, then I
found this on CNN. May be old news to some, but I haven't seen it
mentioned here:

http://www.cnn.com/2004/EDUCATION/06/25/cd.settlement.ap/

Looks like the industry just unloaded a bunch of crap on the libraries
to meet the parameters of the settlement. I did receive check for
$13.86, although I hardly feel that makes up for the 100's of CD's I
have purchased at grossly inflated prices.

--
Eric

Practice Your Mixing Skills
Multi-Track Masters on CD-ROM
www.Raw-Tracks.com

[hank alrich]

EricK > wrote:

> May be old news to some, but I haven't seen it
> mentioned here:

http://www.google.com/advanced_group_search?hl=en

> I did receive check for
> $13.86, although I hardly feel that makes up for the 100's of CD's I
> have purchased at grossly inflated prices.

It's terrible the way you were forced to buy those CD's. I mean, what
could you do? Faced with all that airplay and advertising you were
helpless, helpless, helpless. Just wait until the subliminal stuff on
those CD's starts working on you.

--
ha

[EggHd]

<< I did receive check for $13.86, although I hardly feel that makes up for
the 100's of CD's I have purchased at grossly inflated prices. >>

The bad news is stores like Best Buy will put the other retailers out of
business as they can sell below or at cost using CDs as "loss leaders".





---------------------------------------
"I know enough to know I don't know enough"

[EricK]

hank alrich wrote:

> EricK > wrote:
>>May be old news to some, but I haven't seen it
>>mentioned here:
>
>
> http://www.google.com/advanced_group_search?hl=en

Hank-Sorry if the settlement has been covered here. I read the group
almost daily and don't remember seeing any mention of the settlement. On
your suggestion, I checked the archives, didn't see any mention of the
settlement there either.

>>I did receive check for
>>$13.86, although I hardly feel that makes up for the 100's of CD's I
>>have purchased at grossly inflated prices.
>
>
> It's terrible the way you were forced to buy those CD's. I mean, what
> could you do? Faced with all that airplay and advertising you were
> helpless, helpless, helpless. Just wait until the subliminal stuff on
> those CD's starts working on you.

I know, they even went as far as to drag me, kicking and screaming, to
the store, where they proceeded to pummel me until I coughed up my
dough. Can you believe that?

Seriously, I don't want to get into a debate on whether the prices were
inflated or not. The courts already did that, and it looks like the
courts thought that the industry needed to make amends. By citing the
CNN article, I was more interested on what other people's thought were
on the fact that our public libraries were shipped crates of CD's that
included multiple copies of titles that the libraries considered to be
un-popular.

--
Eric

Practice Your Mixing Skills
Multi-Track Masters on CD-ROM
www.Raw-Tracks.com

[Bob Olhsson]

"EggHd" > wrote in message
...
> << I did receive check for $13.86, although I hardly feel that makes up
for
> the 100's of CD's I have purchased at grossly inflated prices. >>
>
> The bad news is stores like Best Buy will put the other retailers out of
> business as they can sell below or at cost using CDs as "loss leaders".

Not only can they sell below or at cost using CDs as "loss leaders," the
artists and labels get to pay for advertising these sales should they offer
to help anybody else. "Anybody else" is the small independent record stores
who give independent artists breaks but can't afford to sell CDs at a loss.

Score one for Wall Street, Madison Avenue and Cheap Channel and minus ten
for the average independent musician who just got screwed over big-time.

--
Bob Olhsson Audio Mastery, Nashville TN
Mastering, Audio for Picture, Mix Evaluation and Quality Control
Over 40 years making people sound better than they ever imagined!
615.385.8051 http://www.hyperback.com

[Andre Majorel]

On 2004-07-20, hank alrich > wrote:
> EricK > wrote:
>
>> May be old news to some, but I haven't seen it
>> mentioned here:
>
> http://www.google.com/advanced_group_search?hl=en
>
>> I did receive check for
>> $13.86, although I hardly feel that makes up for the 100's of CD's I
>> have purchased at grossly inflated prices.
>
> It's terrible the way you were forced to buy those CD's. I mean, what
> could you do? Faced with all that airplay and advertising you were
> helpless, helpless, helpless. Just wait until the subliminal stuff on
> those CD's starts working on you.

What is your point ? Are you saying that only those who didn't
buy the product can legitimately complain about price-fixing ?
Or that price fixing is OK as long as it helps the recording
industry ? Or that there is no price fixing ?

--
André Majorel <URL:http://www.teaser.fr/~amajorel/>
Sauvez un phoque, mangez un eskimo.

[hank alrich]

Andre Majorel wrote:

> hank alrich wrote:
> > EricK wrote:

> >> I did receive check for
> >> $13.86, although I hardly feel that makes up for the 100's of CD's I
> >> have purchased at grossly inflated prices.

> > It's terrible the way you were forced to buy those CD's. I mean, what
> > could you do? Faced with all that airplay and advertising you were
> > helpless, helpless, helpless. Just wait until the subliminal stuff on
> > those CD's starts working on you.

> What is your point ? Are you saying that only those who didn't
> buy the product can legitimately complain about price-fixing ?
> Or that price fixing is OK as long as it helps the recording
> industry ? Or that there is no price fixing ?

My point is that CD's are not food, shelter or clothing, and I can't see
the sense in complaining about the prices one voluntarily paid for
product they decided to buy.

--
ha

[hank alrich]

EricK> wrote:

> hank alrich wrote:

> > EricK wrote:
> >>May be old news to some, but I haven't seen it
> >>mentioned here:

> > http://www.google.com/advanced_group_search?hl=en

> Hank-Sorry if the settlement has been covered here. I read the group
> almost daily and don't remember seeing any mention of the settlement. On
> your suggestion, I checked the archives, didn't see any mention of the
> settlement there either.

The litigation has been discussed off and on, and as usual when it comes
to understanding what is really going on in these events, Bob Olhsson
has contributed cogent insights (previously, as well as in this thread).

IIRC, the gist is that it's a victory for large retailers, and a defeat
for purchasers, artists, and small record vendors.

> >>I did receive check for
> >>$13.86, although I hardly feel that makes up for the 100's of CD's I
> >>have purchased at grossly inflated prices.

> > It's terrible the way you were forced to buy those CD's. I mean, what
> > could you do? Faced with all that airplay and advertising you were
> > helpless, helpless, helpless. Just wait until the subliminal stuff on
> > those CD's starts working on you.

> I know, they even went as far as to drag me, kicking and screaming, to
> the store, where they proceeded to pummel me until I coughed up my
> dough. Can you believe that?

Not until I see the film on Faux Noose. <g>

--
ha

[reddred]

"hank alrich" > wrote in message
.. .
> Andre Majorel wrote:
>
> > hank alrich wrote:
> > > EricK wrote:
>
> > >> I did receive check for
> > >> $13.86, although I hardly feel that makes up for the 100's of CD's I
> > >> have purchased at grossly inflated prices.
>
> > > It's terrible the way you were forced to buy those CD's. I mean, what
> > > could you do? Faced with all that airplay and advertising you were
> > > helpless, helpless, helpless. Just wait until the subliminal stuff on
> > > those CD's starts working on you.
>
> > What is your point ? Are you saying that only those who didn't
> > buy the product can legitimately complain about price-fixing ?
> > Or that price fixing is OK as long as it helps the recording
> > industry ? Or that there is no price fixing ?
>
> My point is that CD's are not food, shelter or clothing, and I can't see
> the sense in complaining about the prices one voluntarily paid for
> product they decided to buy.
>

I don't think that's the point, price fixong is illegal for a reason. If the
market keeps the price at 17.99 that's fine, but companies getting together
to fix prices is a cartel, and if that was the norm as it was hundreds of
years ago, we'd all still be living in shacks and eating gruel. Seriously.

jb

[Miles Jackson]

>
> My point is that CD's are not food, shelter or clothing, and I can't see
> the sense in complaining about the prices one voluntarily paid for
> product they decided to buy.
>
> --
> ha

This argument is completely illogical. Whether it's CDs, food, cars,
or oil, price fixing by oligopolies or monopolies is a violation
of U. S. and international law. Instead of fairly competing for
customers, the music distributors colluded to keep CD prices
high; in other words, they illegally stole money from CD
consumers. For years. The fact that you don't think this is
worth complaining about is bizarre to me. It's like saying,
"Well, it wasn't food or shelter or clothing, so it's
okay if somebody stole the CD player out of your car. What the
**** do you have to complain about?"

Miles

[Don Cooper]

EricK wrote:

> Looks like the industry just unloaded a bunch of crap on the libraries
> to meet the parameters of the settlement. I did receive check for
> $13.86, although I hardly feel that makes up for the 100's of CD's I
> have purchased at grossly inflated prices.


In depositing the check, are you obligated to do anything?

(Like not bitch about these prices.)