RIAA Not Sharing Settlement Money With Artists

Klatoo55 writes "Various artists are considering lawsuits in order to press for their share of the estimated hundreds of millions of dollars the RIAA has obtained from settlements with services such as Bolt, KaZaA, and Napster. According to TorrentFreak's report on the potential action, there may not even be much left to pay out after monstrous legal fees are taken care of. The comments from the labels all claim that the money is on its way, and is simply taking longer due to difficulties dividing it all up."

I Wonder...

[glavenoid]

...how difficult it is to divide by one...

Of course it's coming!

[Adradis]

The comments from the labels all claim that the money is on its way, and is simply taking longer due to difficulties dividing it all up.

Of course it's coming. We've just got to process it with all our high expense people so that you, the artist, receive the mere pennies you deserve!

Is this really any surprise?

[KublaiKhan]

They're just waiting for all the execs to be declared honorary lawyers by some diploma mill or another so they can claim the whole thing as 'legal fees'.

Why is this not surprising?

[Finallyjoined!!!]

The recent RIAA extortion has never been about the artists, merely keeping the "coke & whores" budget healthy.

Re:I Wonder...

[Stanistani]

One is the loneliest number...

I'm shocked...

[sdkramer]

Give me a moment to recover.

Re:I Wonder...

[KublaiKhan]

Sir, you've violated the copyright of Three Dog Night with your dissemination of their song "One is the Loneliest Number".

We're here to take your first born to our Vinyl Mines.

makes sense

[ILuvRamen]

Well why should they share the money when a good portion of it was gotten from people that didn't even download music from a copyrighted artist? You don't give money to artists if there was no damage. Logically what should be done is the RIAA should go to hell.

Hollywood Accounting

[ween14]

When the RIAA discovered that they had some money left over after paying the lawyers, they needed some time. They have their best accountants working on it http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_accounting [wikipedia.org].

Once they are done with the proper accounting procedures, they will make sure to give the token penny or two to the "poor, starving artists".

On the plus side...

[Channard]

.. it means Metallica aren't getting a share. I bet they'e kicking themselves now..

Heh, excellent point!

[Finallyjoined!!!]

Can I kick them instead :-)

Coming?

[Damocles the Elder]

Of course it's coming, we just have to win the lawsuits first.

Seriously, with all of the john-due suing that's apparently failed hard enough that the RIAA ends up paying attorney's fees [wired.com], I'd be surprised if there's anything left to divvy up.
Of course, it goes without saying that the RIAA's board of directors get their yachts first, too. Can't even think about dividing up the money until those get paid off.

Re:Of course it's coming!

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually they are probably figuring out how to divvy up the remaining lawyer bill amongst the artists.

Blame the RIAA's advanced storage methods

[StefanJ]

The RIAA's royalty database uses a fantastically advanced quantum storage technique. The whole thing fits in a cryogenic cell the size of a medicine pill bottle.

Unfortunately, the uncertainly principle kicks in when you take a close look . . .

Re:I Wonder...

[moderatorrater]

But it was done from within the music industry, so it was fair use. It's only stealing if someone without enough money for lawyers does it.

Re:T'was Ever Thus

[s.bots]

That said, however, I don't feel particularly broken that their members are getting screwed by their own representative

It's not the members that are getting screwed in this case though, it is the artists. They entered into contracts with the record companies most likely at a time when you needed the financial help of the record company to get them off the ground, when home recording equipment was not nearly as cheap or as ubiquitous as it is now.

Imagine all the problems...

[Venik]

Imagine all the problems RIAA's gonna have dividing the profits once it gets the $1.65 trillion from Allofmp3.com! They'll need to rent dump trucks just to deliver checks to the artists.

Re:I Wonder...

[Wandering Wombat]

Excellent. I didn't illegally download music, I merely let my computer perform a very similar cover version.

Re:Why is this not surprising?

[Anonymous Coward]

No no no... the "coke and whores" budget is for the artists. The execs are pumping up their "country club and mistress" budgets. Those are two separate accounts (the latter of which the settlement money is going)

Re:What are you on about?

[jamstar7]

Enough of this phony, pseudo-ideological nonsense. Most of you care nothing about how much the RIAA pays artists. Talking about it all the time just helps you with your cognitive dissonance and makes it okay that you steal music.

When will this foolish drivel have run its course?

obligatory Slashdot disclaimer: I'm a musician who has had more than my share of people around the world asking me for free cd's and telling me they want to copy my music for their friends.

Gene Simmons, is that you???????????????

Misleading title ...

[ScrewMaster]

RIAA Not Sharing Settlement Money With Artists

Of course they are ... con artists are artists too.

Re:Imagine all the problems...

[Dunbal]

No, they could just ship all the artists to Russia with pieces of paper in their hands saying "The bearer is the owner of 0.5% of Russia". I'm sure Putin will honor it.