When Hypebot and others suggested that, based on previous statements, none of the $105 million settlement that LimeWire is paying to labels was unlikely to find its way to artists, the RIAA contacted us to say that they really weren't in control of who got the money. So we went to the four major labels and asked, "Will you be distributing some of this $105 million to your artists?". For the three that replied, the answer is yes.
RIAA Pushes For Warrentless Search Law
Without providing any specific details, Warner Music Group, EMI and Univeral Music, all said that they would be shairng some portion of the LimeWire settlement with the artists signed to their labels. “We will share the settlement money with our artists,” replied a WMG spokesperson, “Our plan is to share settlement monies with our artists.” said UMG. EMI said much the same, and Sony has not yet responded to our inquiry.
But now, the labels and the RIAA have a brand new PR nightmare. The RIAA is pushing for a California law that would give law enforcement the power to enter CD manufacturing plants without any notice or court orders to check that discs are authorized and and carry the legally required identification marks.
The bill introduced by state Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Pacoima) is raising protests from privacy advocates and constitutional law scholars as it moves through the Legislature. I can understand why this makes people nervous," Laurie Levenson, a law professor at Loyola Law School of Los Angeles told the LA Times. "We have the 4th Amendment that generally requires probable cause [for a search]. This is a huge exception."
