Monday, January 13, 2003
The Broken Record's Still Playing
There was an ad in the back of this month's National Geographic, informing people of the Recording labels decision to settle out of court in their price-fixing case. The labels agreed to pay 67 million dollars to settle the case. While they were not found legally guilty of price fixing, 67 million seems to say a lot as a settlement of what they thought their chances of winning were.
So what does this mean for consumers. If you bought cds between 1995 and 2001, you are obligated to a part of the settlement. Before you start rubiing your hands together and collecting receipts for cash back, there is a caveat to be aware of: no matter how much you bought during that period, you're only entitled to a maximum of $20 back. For me, this is a drop in the bucket, as my audio collection that accumulated during my colleg years is a primary backbone of my credit card debt's spine. $20 dollars won't even give it a slipped disk.
Should you still try to claim your payout? Hell yes! You see, any money that remains unclaimed from the suit "shall be distributed to not-for-profit, charitable, governmental or public entities to be used for music-related purposes or programs." At the defendant's discretion. So wehere do you think EMI, Time/Warner, Universal, BMG, and Sony will put the unclaimed money? Into new online music subscription services? Or into anti-piracy legislation and ad campaigns? I think its ironic that money used to settle a claim will be used to combat one of the very outgrowths of the practice that got them in trouble in the first place.
On a positive note, the labels also agreed to donate music-related materials to each of the states for charitable and not-for profits to the tune of an additional 75 million. That will do a lot (hopefully) to bolster school music program and library collections.
Speaking of National Geographic, I'd like to take this moment to thank the relative who continues my subscription year after year. In December and January, I'm always afraid this will be my last issue, or my last complimentary free issue, before the subscription runs out. Nevertheless, my issues keep arriving after the cutoff date, so someone out there is still renewing. One day I might find out who it is.
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