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Music Media Government The Almighty Buck The Courts News

Have you Received Your $13 from the RIAA? 87

Posted by Cliff from the you-could-almost-buy-a-new-CD-with-that dept.
bluephone asks: "The recent story about how the RIAA is scamming around their court approved settlement, I was reminded about the fact that they owe me money. During the registration period, I filed my claim for reimbursement, and my mother did too. They site claims that "Payments will be mailed to Music Purchasers who filed valid claims beginning on February 20, 2004 and two weeks should be allowed for delivery." It uses the future tense because it hasn't been updated since February 19, the day before the mailings were due to start. Well, it's been over 5 months, and neither myself, my mother, nor anyone I know has received their payment. And the only way to inquire about it is via a Post Office Box mailing address. So I ask you, oh Slashdot userbase, have you received your RIAA price fixing settlements?"
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Have you Received Your $13 from the RIAA? More

Have you Received Your $13 from the RIAA?

Comments Filter:

  • Months ago... (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 04, 2004 @10:04PM (#9885437)
    Just like most people [slashdot.org] I know.
  • came in the mail several months ago.

  • Nope... (Score:2, Funny)

    by paul_friedman ( 741288 )
    And, I'll be pissed if they send me Zamfir cds instead of a check!

  • Expired actually (Score:2, Informative)

    by bnewendorp ( 764839 )
    If I remember correctly, the checks expired in May, so if you haven't received it yet, you probably won't be. I also got mine several months ago and already deposited it.
  • That $13 could be put to good use (buying Slashdot subsctiptions of course) if I had it in my paws....

  • I got mine (Score:3, Informative)

    by CanSpice ( 300894 ) on Wednesday August 04, 2004 @10:08PM (#9885455) Homepage
    I got mine back in February. The cheque was dated 20 February. The letter that came with it was dated February 2004 and was slightly specific to Hawaii -- it started off "Dear Hawaii Music Purchaser" and was "signed" by the Attorney General of Hawaii, Mark J. Bennett.

  • Yep (Score:4, Funny)

    by SilentBob ( 51285 ) on Wednesday August 04, 2004 @10:10PM (#9885465) Homepage
    I think I spent it on rum.

  • you missed the fine print (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 04, 2004 @10:10PM (#9885467)
    Where it says if you sign up along with a blood relative, you will be rounded up and shot for criminal copyright infringement and/or terrorism. It's a tough break for you and your mum.

    I didn't sign up, myself. I just downloaded U2's latest off Kazzaaaaza and then hit alt-D until I had about 100 copies .. I figure that's about $1200 bucks, can't wait to burn them to a DVD and take it down to CompUSA to get a new laptop! Piracy is The Awesome!

  • They were screwing me (Score:4, Funny)

    by pbox ( 146337 ) on Wednesday August 04, 2004 @10:10PM (#9885472) Homepage Journal
    I got mine as well back in May, but those screwy bastards sent me $13 as

    1,300 PENNIES!

    Damn them, I almost broke my back.

  • yes and no (Score:4, Interesting)

    by ArmorFiend ( 151674 ) on Wednesday August 04, 2004 @10:20PM (#9885510) Homepage Journal
    I got mine, my girlfriend never got hers. Ironic that in the intervening time we got married. Maybe their spies are everywhere.
  • I received mine in February and too was "personalized" (to Illinois...)

  • I got mine (Score:2, Funny)

    by login.pl ( 799344 )
    About one week after they started sending the checks. I bought a copy of Seether's album Disclaimer with it.
  • I got mine, so did other slashdotters!
    One Man's Check From The RIAA [slashdot.org]

    My friend actually accidentally ripped mine in half, the bank still accepted it though.

  • Yup (Score:2)

    by Tom7 ( 102298 )
    Yes, I did. In fact I was surprised to get it, but it came.
  • We are in Ohio and received both of ours in May.

  • I got mine a while ago (Score:3, Funny)

    by Metex ( 302736 ) on Wednesday August 04, 2004 @10:43PM (#9885618) Homepage
    Spent it on a good lunch. I was laughing throughout the entier meal since I never bought a CD from the RIAA.

  • Yes (Score:2)

    by Goo.cc ( 687626 )
    I received mine some time ago. I live in Florida.

  • yup (Score:2)

    by MoOsEb0y ( 2177 )
    I got my money....

  • Yup (Score:2)

    by CMiYC ( 6473 )
    and I even moved. It came to the forwarded address (w/out a yellow sticker.)

  • Nope... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by ConceptJunkie ( 24823 ) on Wednesday August 04, 2004 @11:16PM (#9885789) Homepage Journal
    I never got mine and since those the RIAA colluded to the tune of about $5 a CD, I figure those bastards really owe me about $3000... actually a lot more since CD prices haven't actually gone down.

    • From http://www.musiccdsettlement.com/english/QA.htm [musiccdsettlement.com]

      The Defendants are five music distributors and three music retailers.

      I'm sick of people refering to the RIAA as if they are a company that sells CDs or something. They are a handfull of office people that hand out plaques to people that sell X numbers of albums or singles, put MA labels if there's profanity within an album. The rest of the staff at the RIAA are lawyers. The RIAA does not care if you "steal" music, buy albums, or pose for goatse picture

      • I understand that perfectly, and I also understand that despite the fact the member companies were colluding to raise CD prices, I haven't seen CD's get cheaper.
        So exactly what penalty did they pay?

        The RIAA represents these companies and since these companies are huge and have lots of money, they can afford to throw tons of lawyers at anything they wish to effect. You can rail all day about the fact that they "cannot get a real job" (and I agree with you), but they make more money and have more influence
    • The collusion in question was not between the record companies themselves or the RIAA (which are very different organizations), it was between the record companies and record stores for the gain of the record stores. What the 'price fixing' did was force record stores (not labels) to not advertise CDs under a certain price. The reason was to prevent large stores like Best Buy and Target from using CDs as loss leaders; selling the CDs for a loss to get customers into the stores to buy more expensive things

  • Expiration date. (Score:5, Informative)

    by Tiro ( 19535 ) on Wednesday August 04, 2004 @11:32PM (#9885872) Journal
    I got mine. But I was at college out of state, and before I came home to cash it, it expired.

    They are marked Void after 120 days.

    • Re:Expiration date. (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Checks aren't void. Doesn't matter what it says. Tell your bank to try to cash it and chances are it'll be fine.

      As long as it has a routing number and account and there are funds to withdraw the check is valid.

      In some states it is illegal to have date-voiding checks.
      • Is that right? Because it really fucks with your record-keeping when someone cashes a check years later.

        I think checks should be void after 90 days, personally. I was considering having that put on my checks...
  • I got mine months ago. I don't remember when, but early march sounds about right. I know that several other people did as well, because the teller at the bank commented that she had seen a bunch of the checks & was upset because she didn't hear about it in time to get her own check. Like you said, there is a PO box, so why not write to it & inquire?
  • ... and mine was personalized from some high up attorney general or whatnot in Sacramento. Check was deposited, don't remember what ate it up though.

  • Nope (Score:2)

    by hawkbug ( 94280 )
    I didn't get mine - and neither did my brother or parents. We all registered the same, so unless there are some punk kids running around stealing checks out of mailboxes, they still owe me money.

  • I won't take their money (Score:4, Insightful)

    by SetupWeasel ( 54062 ) on Thursday August 05, 2004 @01:59AM (#9886376) Homepage
    If they are guilty of the charge they settled, they owe me much more than 13 dollars. The class action suit represented me, so I guess I have no claims on them ad infinitum for all the CDs in the box behind me.

    I will say that I do not care. If the justice system ever gets fixed and the corporate corruption eliminated, I may have a claim again. Like that will happen, but I don't believe in any system where you have a lawyer that you don't hire in a case you did not file decide the amount of your claim that you may or may not know about to collect on an opt-out basis.

    I get no settlement, I have no legal right to sue, and I never signed a single contract.

    God Bless America
    • Errr. I seem to recall that you CAN make a claim on your own if you didn't join the Class Action.

      (I signed up and got my $13)
    • If you opt-out during the period where they're collecting applications from members of the class, then you still have the legal right to sue. That's how class-action suits work. Don't complain about a system like this when you don't understand it. I'm not saying that you'd stand a chance in hell in a lawsuit against the RIAA by yourself (I signed up and got my check a long time ago because that's all I'll ever get from the bastards) but know your rights before you bitch about them.
      • Yes, I do know that. Don't you think it is strange that you opt-in to collect your claim, but opt-out to retain the right to sue.

        What did you think I was talking about? You must know about the suit you didn't bring, AND opt-out to retain your right to sue. Even then you may not get your "claim" if you don't opt-out from the suit. Sounds like a system that favors the lawyers and the defendants if you ask me.

        Of course I wouldn't win if I brought a lawsuit. The system is far to corrupt to allow me to collect

  • got it (Score:2)

    by smoon ( 16873 )
    spent it. not on tunes though.
  • I forgot to file my claim, and they forgot to send out checks. The world does make sense, sometimes!

  • Say what? (Score:5, Funny)

    by Scorchio ( 177053 ) on Thursday August 05, 2004 @09:32AM (#9888017)
    Having spent a year dead for tax reasons, I seem to have missed all this. So, are CDs now fairly priced, or what?
  • Late Feb early March as I remember...
    Went to Newbury Comics and bought a CD with it the next day...
  • I got mine months (6?) ago. Perhaps the topic poster has moved since signing up?
  • Neither myself nor my wife (we weren't married at the time, if that would have made any difference) have received our checks. I also signed up her grandmother. None of us has received a check yet. What recourse is there?

  • CDRs (Score:3, Funny)

    by mwheeler01 ( 625017 ) <`matthew.l.wheeler' `at' `gmail.com'> on Thursday August 05, 2004 @02:40PM (#9891777)
    I got mine and spent the money on a few spindles of blank CDs to uh... back up my songs... yeah that's it...

  • new poll (Score:3, Insightful)

    by mcmonkey ( 96054 ) on Thursday August 05, 2004 @02:57PM (#9892017) Homepage
    Shouldn't this be a poll?

    Have you received your $13 from the RIAA?

    [X] Yes
    [ ] Yes, but I gave it right back buying CDs
    [ ] No
    [ ] No, but I did receive 173 copies of 'Yanni does Kenny G's greatest hits'
  • One guy accidently threw away their check and its an ask slashdot? This clearly demonstrates the evil monster that the RIAA has become, that IP law is evil, and how F/OSS is needed to save the world. I didn't think this place could get any lower. I cheer the achievement!

  • Yup (Score:1)

    by bcsix ( 800990 )
    I got mine a few months ago. I still haven't cashed it yet.

  • Be careful who to blame (Score:3)

    by nwbvt ( 768631 ) on Thursday August 05, 2004 @11:09PM (#9896302)
    The post office is five times as incompetent as the RIAA. Last year I tried to file a temporary change of address form, they didn't start forwarding my mail until a month after it was supposed to expire.

    Chances are they mailed the checks months ago and some postman has already cashed them.

  • I heard that the RIAA is giving away Michael Bolton CD's, so I am sure I can get a discount! Thanks RIAA, now I can save myself $7 on a CD from 10 years ago!

  • I did (Score:2, Funny)

    by cavemanf16 ( 303184 )
    And while $13 isn't much money, it's certainly more fun to know how much money the attorney's got for prosecuting the case against the RIAA. That $13 didn't line my pockets, but it certainly took away from the diamond-lined pockets of the RIAA. Wuhahahahahaha!!!
  • ...and deposited it, and it cleared. Just for the record.

    I have to say though that during the long, long wait, I was really impressed by how dead that website was and how impossible it was going to be to straighten things out or prove I had actually signed up for it, if the check didn't arrive. I thought I had saved a screenshot somewhere, but I hadn't.
  • I got mine back in March or so. Oddly enough, it wasn't from the RIAA people. The check was from the Texas Attorney General.
    Dear $name,
    blah blach blah yadda yadda.
    Love, Greg Abbott
    Texas Attorney General
     Sure, I could have bought something cool with it, but instead I used the money to do laundry that weekend. :)
  • I also received mine. Is it possible some technicality or glitch prevented some from receiving theirs (they misfiled the form in som minor way?) It sucks that some people filed for it but missed out on the payment.

    (I immediately spent mine on independently produced music from CD Baby. Take that!)
  • Since i didnt agree with the suits outcome, i retain the right to get in on the NEXT class action suit, that might actually amount to something....
  • I got mine and promptly put it towards my cable internet connection bill for the month. Heh, it's my new source of music.

  • ...received and spent months ago. Maybe they applied your check to the price of the music you pirated.

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