Music consumers eligible for piece of settlement

A recent lawsuit settlement against the major record companies may now return some money into the pockets of Indiana residents. Anyone who bought a CD in the United States between January 1995 and December 2000 is eligible to collect some money from the world's largest recording studios.\nForty-three states have come together to fight against recording companies such as Sony, Virgin Records and Tower Records. These million dollar companies are charged with illegally raising the price of CDs.\nThe lawsuit claims that a fierce price war between the recording companies was taking place during the early 1990s. CD prices were falling dramatically. In order to stop the decline in their profits, the recording companies came together in 1995 and pressured retailers to maintain, fix, raise or stabilize the price of CDs. If retailers refused, they would loose promotional funding from the recording companies.\nBrett Hayden has worked at Tracks, a local music store on Kirkwood Avenue, for the past 10 years. He said he has seen CD prices rise considerably during that time.\n"Business has been hurt by the high CD prices," Hayden said.\nDespite the sharp decrease in the per-CD unit costs in the 1990s, the pressure on retailers forced the price of CDs to rise once again. Since that time consumers have paid more money than they should for prerecorded music.\n"CD prices need to be cut in half," Hayden said. "You can buy a DVD for almost the exact same price."\nThe recording companies have agreed to a settlement in this issue. The defendants will pay out a total of $67,375,000 to people who file a claim in the lawsuit. They have also agreed to provide $75,700,000 worth of CDs to charities and other organizations who would not normally be able to buy the music. \nIndiana is expected to get about $1.6 million in free CDs.\n"It's a nice gesture, but it doesn't really fix anything," said Vanessa Khuong, a customer at Tracks. \nIn order to become part of this multi-million dollar settlement, all people have to do is go online to (www.musiccdsettlement.com). Here they have to answer three questions to be eligible to file a claim. \n• Did you purchase a music product? \n• Was your purchase from a retailer? \n• Was your purchase made between Jan. 1, 1995 and Dec. 22, 2000? \nIf a person answers yes to all three questions, then he or she can file a claim. Those who file a claim by March 3, 2003, are eligible to receive up to $20 from this settlement.\nKhoung is one Indiana resident who has already filed a claim.\n"I might as well try to get something," she said.\nHowever, not everyone believes filing a claim form is worth the time. Once the settlement gets final approval from the court in May 2003, it will still take several more months for all the claims to be paid out.\n"I probably wouldn't worry about it even though I own about 700 CDs," Hayden said.