CD settlement arrives with a note of irony

By The Associated Press

E-mail this article Print this article Search archive Most read articles Most e-mailed articles

That's among the quandaries facing school and library officials in Seattle as they wade through thousands of CDs that began pouring in this month as part of a 43-state price-fixing settlement with the recording industry.

Some of the discs are raunchy rap unsuitable for school libraries, and some librarians say the selection looks suspiciously like the music companies are dumping stale inventory. The Puget Sound Educational Service District, serving 35 school districts, got 1,300 copies of Houston's soaring rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner."

Washington was the first state to receive the CDs — more than 115,000 of them for libraries, colleges and schools. The settlement stems from a lawsuit against several music distributors and recording companies, alleging price fixing.

The companies were accused of penalizing retailers who offered cheaper CDs by withholding advertising reimbursement if the retailers cut prices.

The industry agreed to pay out $67 million to consumers — mailed out as $13.86 checks a few months ago. The CD giveaway to schools, colleges and libraries will cost the industry an estimated $76 million. The CDs were selected by experts and educators for their lasting significance, and attorneys general for the states involved signed off on the list, said Gary Larson, a spokesman for Washington Attorney General Christine Gregoire.

"We did not just give carte blanche to the recording industry to provide any CDs they had left over in their warehouse," Larson said. To qualify, CDs had to have been on industry charts for 26 weeks or to have peaked in the top half of the charts.

Lara Weigand at the Tacoma Public Library doubts even half of the 1,325 CDs sent to her 10-library system meet those criteria.

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

E-mail this article

Print this article

Search archive

More local news headlines...