RIAA companies coughs up $25 million of $50 million owed to "lost" artists

[SirFozzie]

Some of the leading record and music companies have agreed to payout almost $50 million in unpaid royalties to thousands of musicians under a settlement agreement. The royalties were not paid because the record companies supposedly lost contact with the artist and were unable to disburse payments. Artists that were shortchanged include big names like Sean Combs, Gloria Estefan, Dolly Parton and David Bowie.

The settlement comes after a two-year investigation by New York state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer's office. Spitzer spoke with reporters at a news conference where he explained that new procedures are being put into place as part of the settlement that will insure that artists and their descendants will receive the royalty money that is owed to them.

“Once the recording companies have received royalties, those royalties have to be disbursed to the artists who are owed those funds," Spitzer said. "There are many artists who struggle. ... They depend on the stream of royalties."

The companies that agreed to the settlement include SONY Music Entertainment; Sony ATV Music Publishing; Warner Music Group; UMG Recordings; Universal Music; EMI Music Publishing; BMG Songs; Careers-BMG Music Publishing; BMG Music and the Harry Fox Agency.

Spitzer told reporters that $25 million of the previously unpaid royalties has been distributed to the artists, with $25 million still due.

The settlement includes an agreement that the record companies will make “good-faith” efforts in the future to locate artists that have royalties coming to them. However, if an artist cannot be located the money will revert to the state.

The RIAA says that their member companies already attempt to track down artists that are owed royalties and have begun turning over the unpaid money to state governments to hold until a legitimate recipient can be located.

"The RIAA member music companies are committed to ensuring royalties are paid to those who have earned them," said Steven Marks, general counsel for the RIAA. "The agreements announced today with the New York State attorney general are the results of two years of cooperative efforts and reflect our members' determination that the focus stay on making sure royalties get to their deserving owners: the artists."

[yabanci]

what a bunch of criminals.

[Greyroofoo]

do they actually expect people to feel guilty from downloading from kazaa?

[Daimyo]

Downloading copywrited music illegally is wrong, but man do these guys make it hard to have any sympathy for them.

[Tekneek]

Originally Posted by Daimyo

Downloading copywrited music illegally is wrong, but man do these guys make it hard to have any sympathy for them.

Exactly.

[Cecil Fielder]

the RIAA are a bigger bunch of crooks than the government.

[stkelly52]

The royalties were not paid because the record companies supposedly lost contact with the artist and were unable to disburse payments.

They couldn't find Dolly Parton!?! How could a record company not find artist that famous?

[SackAttack]

It's not like she'd be hard to miss, either. Just look for the small moons orbiting Tennessee.

[Tekneek]

Originally Posted by stkelly52

They couldn't find Dolly Parton!?! How could a record company not find artist that famous?

Easy. You don't bother looking and just put the royalties back into your general operating fund. Now you can't find anyone and your financials look a little better.

[Suicane75]

They can't find Dolly Parton but they can find a 10 year old kid downloading a Britney Spears album. And they have the gall to wonder why people hate them.

[Tekneek]

Originally Posted by Suicane75

And they have the gall to wonder why people hate them.

Do they (the RIAA) really wonder why people hate them? I never got the impression that they cared about that at all.

[Suicane75]

Originally Posted by Tekneek

Do they (the RIAA) really wonder why people hate them? I never got the impression that they cared about that at all.

Good point.

[Gallifrey]

Motown artist were the worst ripped off of all. I wonder where that stands.

[Cecil Fielder]

Originally Posted by Gallifrey

Motown artist were the worst ripped off of all. I wonder where that stands.

i thought a lot of that was settled a while back when Berry Gordy got the shit sued out of him...

[dawgfan]

Originally Posted by Greyroofoo

do they actually expect people to feel guilty from downloading from kazaa?

I don't understand this logic; the RIAA screws over artists by not paying them owed royalties, so it's OK to illegally download music, thus screwing over the artists?

[Cecil Fielder]

Originally Posted by dawgfan

I don't understand this logic; the RIAA screws over artists by not paying them owed royalties, so it's OK to illegally download music, thus screwing over the artists?

you ARE NOT screwing over the artist by downloading their music. the artist sees very very little money from album sales.

let's say you are in a band with 3 other people. your 4 piece band releases an album on a major label. if you sell A MILLION copies of this album, each member of the band might make $50,000.

an artist makes their money from touring and merchandise. keep downloading tunes. download all you want. the artists want you to hear their music. if you really enjoy their music and want to see that artist continue to make music, then make sure you buy a ticket to see their show, and while you're at that show, buy a t-shirt, a sticker, and anything else they have to sell.

feel guilty no more.

[dawgfan]

Originally Posted by Cecil Fielder

you ARE NOT screwing over the artist by downloading their music. the artist sees very very little money from album sales.

Bullshit. Yes, it may be true that artists don't make much money off of their record sales (due to exploitive record contracts) but you're still taking money away from the artist. In cases where the artist runs their own label or are part of a much more friendly label with more generous royalties, you're screwing the artist even more. Theft is theft - unless the artist explicitly approves of music filesharing of their work, you are acting in bad faith.

Originally Posted by Cecil Fielder

an artist makes their money from touring and merchandise. keep downloading tunes. download all you want. the artists want you to hear their music. if you really enjoy their music and want to see that artist continue to make music, then make sure you buy a ticket to see their show, and while you're at that show, buy a t-shirt, a sticker, and anything else they have to sell.

feel guilty no more.

If the artist has no problem with fans downloading their music, then go for it - I have no sympathy for the RIAA and their exploitive practices. But you can't just assume all artists are in favor of this practice, because not all are artists are in favor of it.

[clintl]

I think the point being is not so much that illegally downloading is OK, but that the RIAA are bigger crooks and hypocrites than the downloaders.