Time to rebeat my dead horse.
In 2002, the five largest U.S. record labels and three major retail chains agreed to give consumers $67 million in refunds and donate an additional $76 million worth of CDs to settle price-fixing allegations in a class-action lawsuit filed by dozens of states. California schools and libraries are expected to receive $9 million worth of CDs as part of the deal.
But some Bay area librarians think they're getting stuck with discs the record labels can't sell.
The San Francisco Public Library, for instance, will get 91 copies of a '60s rock compilation ("Feelin' Groovy"), 81 copies of an album by reality TV star Jessica Simpson ("Irresistible") and 73 copies of a "Christmas with Yolanda Adams." By contrast, it will receive only single copies of hundreds of other selections, like jazz great Louis Armstrong's "I Love Jazz." San Jose was scheduled to receive 106 copies of eight different albums, such as Lenny Kravitz's "Lenny" and Ricky Martin's "Sound Loaded." Last year, a school district in the Seattle area received 1,300 copies of Whitney Houston's rendition of the "Star Spangled Banner." And a library in Worthington, Ohio, received 19 copies of an album of Gregorian chants.
So let's see if I understand this: The Recording Industry claims that file sharing caused a loss of sales. At the same time, they settled a lawsuit for $67 million in cash and got the opportunity to clean out their warehouses. Just how many people downloaded the Yolanda Adams Christmas CD?
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