Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab Vinyl Records Not as Analog as Advertised, Class Action Alleges [UPDATE]
Last Updated on June 2, 2023
Stiles v. Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab, Inc.
Filed: August 18, 2022 ◆§ 1:22-cv-04405
A class action alleges Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab has falsely advertised that its vinyl records are sourced directly from analog master recordings and free from any digital mastering.
Illinois
June 2, 2023 – MoFi Digital Mastering Class Action Settled; Related Case Paused Pending Approval
A proposed class action suit against Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab over allegations that mirror those detailed on this page has been settled, and the lawsuit outlined below has been paused by the court pending final approval of the deal, which is valued at more than $25 million.
In February of this year, defendant Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab requested that the court pause the lawsuit detailed on this page pending the preliminary approval of a proposed nationwide settlement in a comparable case, filed earlier, in which both parties participate. The wider settlement was preliminarily approved by the court on May 9, 2023, and now awaits final approval from U.S. District Judge James L. Robart.
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The deal covers all consumers in the United States who, between March 19, 2007 and July 27, 2022, purchased, either directly from the defendants or other retailers (such as Target and Walmart), new and unused Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab vinyl recordings that were marketed as using “Original Master Recording” and/or “Ultradisc One-Step,” were sourced from original analog master tapes, and utilized a direct stream digital transfer step in the mastering chain.
The settlement covers only original buyers who still own the records. Those who no longer own the products are “expressly excluded” from the deal, court records state, adding that the class includes roughly 40,000 people.
According to the 27-page preliminary approval order, the settlement offers class members who have proof of purchase a choice of three forms of relief. Buyers can return their records and receive a full refund, plus tax and shipping. Alternatively, consumers who wish to keep their records may choose to receive either a refund of five percent of the price they paid, plus tax and shipping, or a non-transferable coupon for 10 percent of what they paid, plus tax and shipping. This coupon can be redeemed on the defendants’ website and expires after 180 days.
Per Judge Robart’s order, class members must submit claim forms by September 21, 2023. The final approval hearing is set for October 30.
The plaintiff in the suit detailed on this page participated in the larger nationwide case and opposed the putative settlement that was ultimately approved by the judge in May. The intervenor plaintiff argued that the terms of the deal provide inadequate relief to class members and that the settlement was the product of a collusive “reverse auction” agreement, which Judge Robart defined in the preliminary approval order as when a defendant in multiple lawsuits “picks the most ineffective class counsel who is happy to sell out a class in exchange for a large fee award to successfully negotiate a weak settlement.”
Ultimately, Judge Robart concluded that the settlement “lack[ed] the hallmarks” of a reverse auction deal as it’s recognized in case law and approved the deal.
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February 16, 2023 – Settlement Pending in MoFi Analog Master Class Actions
Attorneys for Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab have asked the court to press pause on the lawsuit detailed on this page in light of a proposed nationwide settlement in a “materially identical” case.
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The proposed settlement will cover all consumers in the United States who, anytime between March 19, 2007 and July 27, 2022, bought, either directly from the defendants or from other retail merchants, new and unused Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab vinyl recordings that were marketed as using “Original Master Recording” and/or “Ultradisc One-Step,” were sourced from original analog master tapes and used a direct stream digital transfer step in the mastering chain. The putative deal, if approved, would cover only original buyers who still own the applicable recordings, which include the records mentioned here.
According to a revised motion for preliminary approval of the settlement filed with the court on February 2, the proposed deal would allow vinyl record buyers, with proof of purchase, to return their records to Mobile Fidelity (MoFi) and Music Direct in exchange for a full refund, plus any shipping and taxes. Alternatively, the settlement would allow buyers to keep the applicable records and, with proof of purchase, receive either a refund of five percent of a record’s purchase price or a coupon for 10 percent of the record’s purchase price toward another Music Direct or MoFi product. Those who are covered by the settlement, called “class members,” would be able to make this selection with respect to each applicable record they purchased.
The “total gross value” of the pending settlement is more than $25 million, and the defendants estimate that the class may include at least 40,000 direct and indirect record buyers, court documents state.
ClassAction.org will update this page if and when the proposed settlement receives preliminary approval from the court—and when the time comes for consumers to file a claim for compensation.
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A proposed class action alleges Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab (MoFi) has falsely advertised for more than a decade that its vinyl records are sourced directly from analog master recordings and free from any sort of digital mastering.
Want to stay in the loop on class actions that matter to you? Sign up for ClassAction.org’s free weekly newsletter here.
The 28-page case shares that analog records, as opposed to digital recordings, are coveted for their superior sound quality and collectability. Given that original recording tapes age, only a limited number of analog recordings can be produced, and because analog tapes are used to record songs in a studio, a record cut from an original analog tape is “as close to the studio recording as one can get,” the filing says.
Digital recordings, on the other hand, can be reproduced infinitely, per the suit.
The lawsuit says that although Chicago-based Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab labels its vinyl records as “Original Master Recording” or sold as part of the “Ultradisc One Step” series, the company has used direct stream digital (DSD) technology—a means for mass-producing vinyl records—in its production chain since at least 2011.
According to the suit, the vinyl records made through Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab’s DSD production process are inherently less valuable given they’re “no longer of limited quantity and were not as close to the studio recording,” despite costing a premium price.
“Had Defendant not misrepresented that the Records were purely analog recordings, or otherwise disclosed that the Records included digital mastering in their production chain, Plaintiff and putative Class Members would not have purchased the records or would have paid less for the records than they did,” the complaint argues.
“Cutting” a record from analog tapes is a time-intensive process that is subject to the reality that analog tapes age and deteriorate over time, the suit relays. To avoid this problem, some vinyl records today are made from digital recordings, meaning an original analog tape has been copied to a digital recording that is then used to press the vinyl, the case explains.
Although this process yields cost and time savings, sound quality can be negatively impacted, and vinyls made from digital records are neither as collectible nor valuable as all-analog records, the lawsuit says.
The DSD technology used by Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab captures audio from an analog tape at a higher resolution than other formats via high-rate sampling, the case says. The DSD process, according to the suit, involves the removal of two steps in the vinyl record plating process, which supposedly reveals more musical detail and dramatically reduces surface noise.
Per the lawsuit, the record label defendant notes on its website that it “believes that mastering systems should be neutral and transparent,” and that the “essential idea is to unveil all the detailed musical information on the original master recording without adding deterioration, coloration or other sonic artifacts.” Reasonable consumers who view the defendant’s representations understand them to mean that its records are sourced entirely from analog recordings, with no digital mastering or DSD technology, the suit argues.
Although MoFi’s representations were “largely true” prior to 2011, the label has utilized digital techniques in its remastering chain since then, the filing says, claiming that MoFi’s last non-DSD recording was in 2020.
In July 2022, MoFi’s engineers revealed that the label used “4x DSD” in its manufacturing process, the lawsuit relays. The complaint says that the company then “moved quickly to rectify its misleading advertising and disclose the use of digital remastering in the Records,” and now places its use of DSD front and center on product pages.
“These ‘corrective’ representations demonstrate that not only were MoFi’s misrepresentations and omissions done knowingly, but that MoFi failed to disclose or otherwise misrepresented material information to consumers regarding MoFi’s production process,” the case alleges.
The lawsuit looks to cover all consumers in the United States who purchased a record from Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab prior to July 15, 2022.
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