Last
June, five major music companies and three music retailers had a class-action
antitrust lawsuit placed against them accusing them of illegally
inflating CD, cassette and recording prices. The approved settlement forces them to
send out $ 13.86 refund cheques to over three million music consumers across 40
states which started from Friday and also bars the defendants from agreeing to
fix prices in future. The music
companies have also agreed as part of the settlement to provide $ 75.5 million
worth of CDs free of charge to music-education programs.
|
The $ 13.86 checks represent individual shares of a $ 67.4 million settlement in a class-action antitrust lawsuit that alleged the music companies and retail chains including Trans World Entertainment Corp., MTS Inc.'s Tower Records, and Musicland Stores Corp. illegally conspired to inflate CD, cassette and record prices. Also as part of the settlement, the music companies agreed to provide 5.6 million CDs, worth $ 75.7 million, free to music-education programs. The settlement, which was approved last June, also bars the defendants from entering future agreements to fix CD prices. The five major companies are EMI Group |
Even
though this settlement
took place last June, I have yet to hear about any major news about
falling CD prices apart from the wholesale price drop by Universal. Most online music prices such as on
iTunes have so far remained the same since the service's initial
launch.
Source: Yahoo Business News
