No, you misunderstand. The RIAA defended the $17/CD price fixing, despite the HUGE decline in materials cost, as a fixed cost for the license to listen to the music for life. This is NOT my statement, this is the entire premise of the RIAA defense.
As the RIAA brought the 'lifetime license' into play, it is only fair that I get to use the claim as well as the RIAA. Thus, if the reason for price fixing (illegal in and of itself) was to allow for the 'lifetime license', I have been double charged.
If the 'lifetime license' is a bogus arguement, the RIAA should not have used it as it's primary defense.