Quote:p2pnet.net News:- Remember how certain major elements of the music industry were price fixing and got caught?


Attorneys general of "43 states, Commonwealths and Territories," and "counsel for the Plaintiff Settlement Class went after them in an antitrust litigation.

The accused admitted no wrong-doing but were ultimately ordered to supply 3,5000,000 music lovers with cash payouts. And as part of their settlement for not having done anything wrong, the (not)guilty parties were also to supply public schools and libraries with free CDs .


As you'd expect, they dragged their feet for as long as possible before starting the payments and, as you'd expect, they're now doing their best to weasel out of their obligation by providing crap CDs no one in their right mind would want.


"Listening to oldies such as 'Mr. Bojangles' and 'What's Going On?' might be a fun music history lesson for schoolkids in King and Pierce counties," says the Seattle Post-Intelligencer here, referring to the 'product' Sony et al have sent to Washington State public institutions.


"But 413 free copies of 'Greatest Hits 1971' might prove to be too much of a good thing," the story goes on.


"And 387 CDs containing explicit lyrics by the late Puerto Rican rapper Big Punisher, along with 356 copies of 'Staying Power' by the late Barry White, weren't high on the public schools' wish list."


Well - what would you expect? We're talking about the music industry, the people whose current marketing plan is to sue their customers into buying 'product' and to crush potential competition - read p2p - by any and all means.

MDL Docket No. 1361 read in part:


"The Plaintiffs have alleged in two separate amended complaints that the Defendants conspired to illegally fix and control the pricing of Music Products sold to consumers through Defendant Distributors' adoption and utilization of Minimum Advertised Price (MAP) programs in violation of the Sherman Act, state antitrust and unfair competition and/or consumer protection laws. The Plaintiffs have further alleged that as a result of the conspiracy residents of the Plaintiff States and members of the Plaintiff Settlement Class have been injured by paying more for Music Products than they would have paid in the absence of the illegal conduct. The Defendants have denied and continue to deny each and all of the claims and contentions alleged by the Plaintiffs and any violation of law. "

The defendants were:

LABELS: Capitol Records, Inc d/b/a EMI Music Distribution, Virgin Records America, Inc, and Priority Records LLC; Time Warner, Inc, Warner-Elektra-Atlantic Corp, WEA, Inc, Warner Music Group, Inc, Warner Bros Records, Inc, Atlantic Recording Corporation, Elektra Entertainment Group, Inc, and Rhino Entertainment Company; Universal Music & Video Distribution Corporation, Universal Music Group, Inc, and UMG Recordings, Inc; Bertelsmann Music Group, Inc and BMG Music; and, Sony Music Entertainment Inc.


RETAILERS: MTS, Inc d/b/a Tower Records, Musicland Stores Corp, and Trans World Entertainment Corp.

The King and Pierce County school districts received a total of 25,600 CDs, says the the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Included were:


310 copies of Will Smith, "Willenium"
204 copies of Everclear, "Good Time for a Bad Attitude"
104 copies of Wilson Pickett, "In the Midnight Hour"
Nine copies of Yanni, "In the Mirror"
One copy of "Chicken Soup for Little Souls"

Right. There's a huge pile of junk on the list, but there's also some good stuff, classical and contemporary - the kind of hard-to-find non-'product' it'd be nice to be able to get online at affordable prices, and which is currently only readily available on p2p networks.

It might not go down too well with a lot of the kids whose minds have been irretrievably rotted by the kind of cookie-cutter 'product' pumped out as music by the Big Five.

But they're not the only music lovers in the world and maybe the King and Pierce County school districts should rip their settlement CDs and use them to start up a site featuring downloads at 20 cents a pop, say, or for $5 a month.

They could be offering:

The Very Best Of Aretha Franklin, The 60's; Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, and so on (lots of it); Booker T - Green Onions & Other Hits; Bruce Springsteen - Live in New York City; John Coltrane - The Heavyweight Champion: The Complete Atlantic Recordings (seven CDs); or Herbie Hancock, Johnny Cash, Jefferson Airplane; Juliam Bream; the MJQ; Otis Redding; Outkast; Rage Against The Machine; Sarah Vaughan; Tammy Wynette ...

They'd make a LOT of money - enough, probably, to be able to buy two or three full Madonna CDs.