Is the RIAA cheating members?
p2pnet view P2P | RIAA:- Ray Beckerman, the indie lawyer behind Recording Industry vs The People, is still thinking about the streams of cash flowing in and out of the coffers of the RIAA.
‘RIAA’ is short for Recording Industry Association of America, owned and operated principally by Vivendi Universal (France), Sony (Japan), EMI (Britain), and Warner Music’s (US, but controlled by a Canadian).
p2pnet recently published two RIAA IRS form 990s, more commonly known as ‘financials’.
- Click here for 990 2007.
- Click here for 990 2008.
After going through the numbers, Beckerman pointed out they made it clear the RIAA’s “business plan” is even worse than anyone had suspected.
“The RIAA paid Holmes Roberts & Owen $9,364,901 in 2008, Jenner & Block more than $7,000,000, and Cravath Swain & Moore $1.25 million, to pursue its ‘copyright infringement’ claims, in order to recover a mere $391,000″, he said, also noting, “there were many other law firms feeding at the trough too; these were just the ones listed among the top 5 independent contractors”.
“Embarrassing.”
To considerably understate the situation
“If the average settlement were $3,900, that would mean 100 settlements for the entire year”, Beckerman observed.
Now, “The amounts of money the RIAA spent on legal fees from 2006 to 2008 — approximately $20,000,000 per year — were in the ballpark with my estimates (I’d estimated $15,000,000)”, he says in a Recording Industry vs The People update, continuing >>>
But the amounts collected from the settlements were not; they were far lower.
I would have expected the RIAA to have been collecting in the neighborhood of $5,000,000 per year during that period, rather than a mere $450,000 per year.
What if my estimates were correct, and 90% of the moneys collected were turned over to the Big 4 record labels who were the plaintiffs?
If so, it would mean the RIAA membership was spending membership money to help just a few of its members.
Hmmmmmm.
Surely not. Would the RIAA sink so low?
But for the sake of argument, if that was the case it would, says Beckerman, raise problems with >>>
- The Internal Revenue Service; and,
- The RIAA membership.
“So”, he says, “it must not be the case. Right?
“Just askin’.
“If the RIAA lawyers out there could clarify this for me, I’d appreciate it.”
Definitely stay tuned.
… and identi.ca
IRS form 990s – RIAA boss Bainwol paid $2 million in 2008, July 12, 2010
anyone had suspected – Ha ha ha ha ha. RIAA paid its lawyers more than $16,000,000 in 2008 to recover only $391,000!!!, July 13, 2010
Recording Industry vs The People – An afterthought about the RIAA’s financial “disclosures”, July 15, 2010
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July 15th, 2010 at 2:44 pm
Hi Jon, thought I’d give you a hand here.
I was looking at Mr Beckerman’s first post and it it he has a list of sites which have covered this story.
The lamescream media is, as usual, conspicuous by its absence.
Keep up the good work, mate
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July 15th, 2010 at 8:03 pm
I want to add this one:
http://www.numerama.com/magazine/16237-la-riaa-a-debourse-64-millions-de-dollars-en-proces-pour-quel-resultat.html
July 15th, 2010 at 9:11 pm
Me too.
RIAA Blows Millions on Piracy Lawsuits
15 July, 2010, by ITProPortal Staff
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has been spending millions in legal fees to recover relatively small amounts in damages, a financial report filed by the organisation revealed today.
According to data retrieved by the p2pnet blog, in 2008 RIAA spent a total of $16 million in lawyer’s fees, but recovered just $391,000 in settlements.
The organisation paid $9,364,901 to Holmes Roberts & Owen, over $7,000,000 to Jenner & Block, and $1.25 million to Cravath Swain & Moore to pursue copyright infringement claims against music pirates.
In 2007 the organisation blew $24.5 million in lawsuits that recovered only $500,000, and in 2006 paid more than $19 million in fees to net $455,000 in settlements.
The financial reports also show that, despite the significant losses sustained by the RIAA, senior staff at the organisation still receive lavish salaries. The RIAA chief executive draws a salary of $2 million each year, and the average yearly salary of a top executive is $200,000.
http://www.itproportal.com/portal/news/article/2010/7/15/riaa-blows-millions-piracy-lawsuits/
July 16th, 2010 at 1:12 pm
EMI had threatened to withdraw from RIAA membership. That was two years ago, before EMI went broke.
July 17th, 2010 at 11:18 am
I’ve always wondered about the figures not making sense; years ago they boasted of far more letters sent or persons threatened than the number of settlements. I assumed that the missing settlements were just cases that had not been resolved. But it never seemed that even half of the people threatened actually settled. Now I believe that some settled for trivial sums, maybe a few hundred dollars. Of course they had to sign secrecy agreements so nobody would know how lightly they got off. I also believe many people just ignored the whole thing. Some thought the threat was a scam, some didn’t even understand it, some people were so broke they knew they were not collectible so they just figured “do your worst” and carried on. Faced with thousands of people who wouldn’t even answer the threat, the RIAA perhaps thought it prudent to keep this part quiet. After all, if everyone ignored them, what would they do. They couldn’t REALLY sue ‘em all!
I think the “Hurt Locker” case will go the same way. They claim they will sue 50000 people but we know only an unlucky few will ever see a courtroom. As long as a few people “blink first” the lawyers will do okey and the plaintiffs will continue to believe riches are on the way.
July 17th, 2010 at 11:47 am
We in the music world as artists know that recording (RIAA) and publishing businesses actually are mostly frauds that under report everything while being over protected by silly contracts that, admittedly, we all sign because if we don’t, all doors are shut for us.
For example, if our songs don’t belong to a publisher, no one with real access to record stores will use our songs.
For example, if our songs are not in a publisher controlled performance licensing organization (PRO) catalog, no one can legally play our music, and if our song is in that catalog, we will never see any money worth mentioning after the accounting-evaporation process at the PRO first and the publisher later.
If RIAA members are mostly scammers, then can RIAA really expect that their lawyers will protect them from “sharing criminals”?
They can expect that, yes, but it is because they are fools who have allowed their legal thinking executives to destroy the music business by treating music sharers (the best prospective customers) as copying criminals.
Well, at least the lawyers who are scamming RIAA are helping in the destruction of RIAA. That is good.