[IP] more on RIAA & libraries on boston WB

[David Farber <dave@farber.net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Rich Kulawiec <rsk@gsp.org>
Date: August 3, 2004 6:14:31 PM EDT
To: David Farber <dave@farber.net>
Cc: Todd Pinkerton <toddp@geneticmail.com>
Subject: Re: [IP] RIAA & libraries on boston WB

> Has anyone else had local coverage of this gross injustice?

It would appear so: /. carried a story about this last week, which read 
in part:

	'cosyne writes "Part of the music industry's recent price fixing
	settlement involves giving free CDs to public libraries. Although
	they are technically complying with the the letter of the law,
	they're abusing the spirit by giving the libraries large piles of
	crud. According to the Stevens Point Journal, '[the] Milwaukee
	Public Library received 1,235 copies of Whitney Houston's 1991
	recording of "The Star-Spangled Banner," 188 copies of Michael
	Bolton's "Timeless," 375 of "Entertainment Weekly: The Greatest
	Hits 1971," and 104 copies of Will Smith's "Willennium."' The
	recording industry obviously wouldn't want to have libraries
	loaning out music that people might otherwise buy." See also a
	related story about shipments to another state.'

See:
	http://yro.slashdot.org/yro/04/07/25/1539259.shtml?tid=141&tid=123

My sense of things, from reading the comments on /., as well as the 
links
provided in the article and in followups, is that these aren't isolated
incidents: the music industry appears to be taking advantage of the 
opportunity
to clear out its warehouses, thus solving two problems (the settlement 
and
unsaleable merchandise) at once.  Oh, I'm sure one of their paid 
professional
liars will come up with some farsical explanation for this -- in fact, 
I'll
bet that they blame P2P networks for it. ;-)

---Rsk

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