If you purchased pre-recorded CDs, tapes or records from a retailer between January 1, 1995 and December 22, 2000 which presumably everyone reading this has you could potentially receive up to $20 in a federal Antitrust Litigation Settlement. The suit, which many have believed to be a hoax, involves a long list of major record labels including Capital, Virgin, EMI, Warner-Elektra, Atlantic, Rhino, Universal, BMG and Sony. They are accused of conspir[ing] to illegally raise the prices of prerecorded Music Products by implementing Minimum Advertised Price policies, in violation of State and Federal laws. If the proposed Settlement is determined to be fair (a hearing is scheduled for May 22) the labels will pay a total of $67,375,000 in cash and provide $75,700,000 worth of prerecorded CDs.
To become a member of the Settlement Group, simply file a claim online by March 3. The total number of claims filed will determine the amount of each refund, but will not exceed $20. If the total would result in less than $5, there will be no cash refund and the money would be donated to not-for-profit, charitable, governmental or public entities to be used for music-related purposes or programs for the benefit of consumers who purchased Music Products.
Complete information is available at www.musiccdsettlement.com.