OK, Anyone remember a few years back that a Class-Action Lawsit was filed....

Curt_B · 07-30-2006, 07:03 PM

...against the big 4 record companies (EMI, WB, SONY/RCA, UNI) over price collusion?
It was ruled that the record companies kept between themselves, in secret, an agreement to keep prices high.
Well, the Supreme(?) Court said to "knock it off" AND start a fund to rebate everyone who had bought a CD in the past 5 years.

1. I remember getting a form in the mail from some legal outfit to fill out, and they said based on the money in the account divided by the number of plaintiffs, I could get $5 or a free cd.
I chose CD for some reason-they gave no indication of a title, and several weeks later up shows a copy of something like "Loretta Lynn singing Sunday Gospel Sermons" or some such nonsense ie: Stock they would have trashed and written off at tax time...
.
2. I havent seen the price of CDs drop-in fact the new releases have risen to $18.99-19.99;
Of course, the long ago rereleased budget reissues are always less, and sometimes they spiff up an old title, by remastering it, adding bonus tracks and an informative booklet-usually at a mid price.
And then theres RCA(BMG)-the one example that comes to mind is the JEFFERSON AIRPLANE.
They have milked that cash cow so many ways that the teat must be sore and ready to drop off.
Ad still they rerelease them, now that theyve merged with SONY

So what Im saying here is, that-have YOU noticed the price of CDs dropping?
I sure havent

Garrett Lundy · 07-30-2006, 09:09 PM

Thanks to Yourmusic I haven't paid more than $6/CD this last year. before Yourmusic I typically bought less than 5 CDs a year at @$17. Now I've bought 48 titles since Dec '05, and have another 116 "in queue".

So when prices are cheaper I spend alot more money on CDs. The last CD I saw in a store I wanted was $18.99. Which perfectly explains why I didn't buy it.

Jeff Ulmer · 07-31-2006, 12:09 AM

The only way competing companies get in trouble for collusion is if they discuss keeping prices high, but if my company sells a CD for $18 and your company sells a CD for $18 there is nothing wrong with that - as long as we don't discuss selling CDs at that price.

How do you think the gas companies keep from falling afoul of the law? Shell sets a price, then the guy across the street matches it. Completely legal. Bogus, but legal.

Curt_B · 07-31-2006, 03:07 PM

Your music-does it stock most of the new releases, or only the year old or more 'top 50' titles?

Justin_P · 07-31-2006, 03:13 PM

To add to Jeff's comments, all they said they would stop doing was conspiring to keep prices high. Now that they've been caught, they're just doing it the old fashioned way.

I did notice a brief period where it seemed like every new music release I wanted came out at $9.99 at Best Buy, $10.99 or $11.99 at the specialty stores. Now it seems like prices are right back where they were, in the $16.99 to $18.99 range. It certainly puts a dent in my buying power....

J

**HTF Ads**

Jeff Ulmer · 07-31-2006, 04:49 PM

In fairness to the labels, they do not set the retail price, the store does, and I know from working as a label that many of these dealers expect to make 80% or more markup on their product. That said, they do have to cover the cost of storing product, and it isn't like shipping costs haven't gone up substantially.

Garrett Lundy · 07-31-2006, 05:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Curt_B

Your music-does it stock most of the new releases, or only the year old or more 'top 50' titles?

They only carry Sony/BMG/Universal/Columbia ... same as BMG music club. And while their selection is heavily skewed towards Hip-Hop, Latin, and Rock & Roll for new releases, their backcatalog is pretty solid for Classic, Blues, and Jazz.

Too bad they don't carry Capitol, The Beatles and Pink Floyd would be even better at $6 each.

MarkHastings · 07-31-2006, 09:06 PM

I was shocked to see that most CD's on Amazon, are under $10.

I think Amazon is trying to keep up with iTunes because a lot of their CD"s are cheaper than the full album on iTunes.

Grant B · 08-01-2006, 06:19 PM

"Loretta Lynn singing Sunday Gospel Sermons" or some such nonsense ie: Stock they would have trashed and written off at tax time...

I remember them giving like 152 copies to the SF public library ....part of their bullshit public service or something.
What's that noise I hear????
Good Old Teddy Roosevelt rolling over in his grave again!

Aaron Silverman · 08-01-2006, 07:13 PM

My wife and I took the cash.

I think it was more than $5, though. IIRC, the exact amount depended on what state you lived in. I think we got about $8 each.

Chris Gerhard · 08-02-2006, 12:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Garrett Lundy

They only carry Sony/BMG/Universal/Columbia ... same as BMG music club. And while their selection is heavily skewed towards Hip-Hop, Latin, and Rock & Roll for new releases, their backcatalog is pretty solid for Classic, Blues, and Jazz.

Too bad they don't carry Capitol, The Beatles and Pink Floyd would be even better at $6 each.

I have purchased a lot of Capitol releases from yourmusic.com. Just type in Nat King Cole for one artist, there are many others. No, the Beatles Capitol albums aren't there, but I did buy several of those when I had my BMG club membership, I don't know if they are still there. They were premium releases with a buy one get a non-premium title free but I used them to fulfill my membership.

Chris