Attorneys’ fees for the Compact Disc Antitrust Litigation Settlement were based in part on the idea that there would be $75.7 million in “non-cash consideration”–charitable donations of 5.5 million CDs, valued at 20% below “suggested retail price.” The CDs have started to arrive at local libraries, and SiliconValley.com, compiling local news reports, is finding that the $75.7 million figure is generous, given the nature of the CDs being distributed, which include such titles as “Martha Stewart Living: Spooky Scary Sounds for Halloween”, “Music from the HBO Original Movie BoyCott”, and “John Lithgow Singin’ In The Bathtub.” North Carolina libraries got 1,300 copies of country-rocker Clay Davidson’s “Unconditional”; a Washington state school district reportedly got a similar number of Whitney Houston singles of “The Star Spangled Banner.” Michigan finds that the only Elvis available is not Presley or Costello, but Crespo. “There’s nothing here you would want to buy even for $1.99,” a Virginia librarian complained. (John Paczkowski, Aug. 4 (sixth item) (via Postrel); Tonya Shipley, “Library looks to positive side of free CDs”, Zanesville Times Recorder, Aug. 3; Sam Hodges, “Libraries: CD deal more headache than hit”, Charlotte Observer, Jul. 30; Robert Snell, “Martha? Yanni?”, Flint Journal, Aug. 22; AP, Aug. 2; Fred Carroll, “Lots of CDs, but who’ll listen?”, Hampton Roads Daily Press, Aug. 19; dozens of other local articles). The only reason for this fiction was to rationalize a multi-million-dollar payment to the plaintiffs’ lawyers, a payment that may well exceed the actual (as opposed to settlement-named) value of the free CDs.

Filed under: antitrust, class actions, music and musicians