A coalition of 28 states filed suit against the major record labels today, alleging that they and several U.S. retailers have illegally conspired to prop up the prices of compact discs. One need not look any further than my article on the real deal behind the recording industry and Napster to see how the RIAA has been fucking you people that dog Napster and it’s 25 million users for years.

The states' attorneys general charge that the labels and retailers have violated state and federal antitrust laws since 1995, potentially costing consumers hundreds of millions of dollars. Hmm, really now is that a fact? The lawsuit is based on what the attorneys general say is a long-standing conspiracy to prop up prices of CDs. How do they do it you ask? Well the record companies tell the retailers that if they want to get marketing subsidies which is basically free money for the stores for space to be used to promote products, then they can’t sell the CD to you for less than $12.99 or $15.99. This is bullshit because a whole fucking CD can be made pressed, printed and packaged and shipped by the record company for $2.00.

The suit notes that discount retailers such as Wal-Mart, Circuit City, Best Buy and Kmart began offering CDs for low prices in the early 1990s, driving the price of a recording down from $15 to about $10 which is still raping you but....

In response, the suit alleges, other music retailers pressured the record companies to impose a minimum retail price for CDs. The labels added teeth to the policy by levying financial penalties on discount retailers that undercut this minimum price.

The suit, which is filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, follows an investigation by the Federal Trade Commission into a similar accusation of CD price fixing. That issue was settled in May when the record labels agreed to drop their controversial pricing agreements with retailers.

Once again, the record companies are trying to act like they give a shit about someone other than themselves. Like when they filed their lawsuit against Napster they acted like they were so concerned with the recording artists not getting their royalties, in this case they defend the practice of minimum pricing, saying that it helped support small record stores against heavy-handed competition by giant chains such as Kmart or Target. The chain stores were still free to sell CDs below the price floor, the record companies contend, but they would not receive the sometimes-substantial retail marketing subsidies.

"We continue to believe that (the minimum price policy) served a valid business purpose and benefited consumers by substantially furthering retail competition, and that it was an appropriate and lawful practice." If this was a lawful and appropriate practice then so are the activities of the fucking mob. This is extortion you lying fuck, pure and simple. These are the same people that said that every time a song was downloaded from Napster is cost them $100,000. Where do they get their numbers? By that account I have personally cost them, hold on a second let me get my calculator…according to them I have cost them 230 million dollars. That would make me about the most notorious Internet pirate, hacker, and crook in US History. I didn’t know “Sex Shooter” from Apollonia 6 was still that popular. What must’ve mislead me into believing that it wasn’t worth $100,000 was the fact that the album is out of fucking print.

The FTC has estimated that the potential harm to consumers as a result of the pricing agreements could reach $480 million.