Posted on 06/24/2004 12:42:57 PM PDT by FourPeas
Listening to oldies such as "Mr. Bojangles" and "What's Going On?" might be a fun music history lesson for schoolkids in King and Pierce counties.
But 413 free copies of "Greatest Hits 1971" might prove to be too much of a good thing.
Lara Weigand, librarian for Tacoma Public Library, checks out some of the CDs the library received as part of the music industry settlement. The large number of little-known CDs has disappointed Weigand. And 387 CDs containing explicit lyrics by the late Puerto Rican rapper Big Punisher, along with 356 copies of "Staying Power" by the late Barry White, weren't high on the public schools' wish list.
Raunchy music wasn't what anyone in education or the Attorney General's Office had in mind when they announced that a windfall of music was coming to public schools and libraries from last year's $143 million anti-trust settlement with the recording industry. The industry was accused of setting artificially high prices.
Washington got 115,241 music CDs -- which would retail at $1.5 million -- out of the deal. Boxes of free music began hitting schools and libraries last week.
But some teachers are not sure what they will do with, for example, 114 copies of Meredith Brooks' "Blurring the Edges," which includes the Grammy-nominated song, "Bitch."
"There were truly some gems in there," said Karen Farley, a library media specialist for the Puget Sound Educational Service District. "It's just that some of them, you'd look at and scratch your head."
Farley's regional district, which covers 35 school districts, received 1,355 copies of Whitney Houston singing "The Star-Spangled Banner." The hit single, which Houston sang before the 1991 Super Bowl at the height of the Gulf War, was 5 percent of the district's cache.
Washington was the first state to receive its share of CDs, and the national settlement administrators discovered mistakes when they calculated the distribution, said Gary Larson, spokesman for state Attorney General Christine Gregoire.
The Secretary of State's Office this week set up a CD-swapping listserve for librarians and administrators, said Karen Goettling, with the state library system.
"I'm sure that there are other, smaller libraries that wouldn't mind one or two copies of some of those CDs," she said.
Larson said larger recipients, such as the Puget Sound ESD, which received 25,600 CDs, and the Tacoma Public Library, which received 1,325 CDs, are having the most problems with the variety. Libraries and schools that received about 100 or fewer titles seem to be more pleased with the selections, he said.
He said his office was unaware that schools had received titles featuring explicit lyrics, with albums clearly marked with the black-and-white parental advisory sticker.
In her announcement of the distribution two weeks ago, Gregoire said schools would not receive music with adult content.
Most of the free CDs distributed in Washington went to the public schools.
Although she was surprised by some inappropriate music, "I'm glad that the schools were even considered," said Cynthia Schultz, director of learning resources for the Northwest Educational Service District, which covers counties from Snohomish to San Juan.
"Whether or not we considered it 'good' was irrelevant," Schultz said. "There was a whole collection of Gene Autry albums. My husband would've given his eyeteeth for those."
Too busy organizing their new digs, officials at Seattle Public Library didn't open theirs until yesterday, said library spokeswoman Andra Addison.
Included in the shipment: 84 copies of an album by rhythm-and-blues artist Samantha Mumba, 69 by Lenny Kravitz and 48 copies of "Scary Sounds for Halloween" from Martha Stewart.
With 23 branches, the Seattle Public Library received many more copies of albums it can use, but officials don't know what they will do with the extras.
The King County Regional Library System already has decided to try to hock its gifts, all 7,700 of them.
"We didn't feel they were up to snuff to be added to our collection," said library spokeswoman Julie Wallace. King County donated the CDs to its fund-raising foundation to sell.
Wallace said she is not sure what kind of music the library system got, but heard "there were a lot of Gregorian Chants."
Part of the settlement the recording industry made with states' attorneys general was that the giveaway CDs couldn't be junk, Larson said. Titles had to be on a Billboard chart for at least 26 weeks and had to peak in the top half of the chart.
To their credit, Schultz said, the music labels included what she considered good recordings, such as classical music, newer Carlos Santana collections and the soundtrack to "The Rocky Horror Picture Show."
Tacoma librarian Lara Weigand said she remains skeptical about the sincerity of the recording industry in sending the CDs to Washington, that the type and volume of some music seemed like the record labels were cleaning house.
"There were several that were clearly marked, 'For Promotional Use Only,' " she said. Tacoma Public Library received dozens of CDs that were notched, indicating that they were not resalable.
Included in Weigand's haul: "an abundance of Christmas music," 27 copies of Madame Butterfly and 35 copies of the Bee Gees "This is Where I Came In."
PLAY LIST
The King and Pierce County school districts received a total of 25,600 CDs, among them:
310 copies of Will Smith, "Willenium"
204 copies of Everclear, "Good Time for a Bad Attitude"
104 copies of Wilson Pickett, "In the Midnight Hour"
Nine copies of Yanni, "In the Mirror"
One copy of "Chicken Soup for Little Souls"
P-I reporter Candace Heckman can be reached at 206-448-8348 or candaceheckman@seattlepi.com
If anybody doubts that the RIAA are a bunch of sleazy maggots, here's yet more evidence.
These two sentences contradict each other. Almost everything that charts is junk.
Kinda funny.
People rail against greedy lawyers. Then they join class action lawsuits because they were 'wronged'. They win. Greedy lawyers get money. Class action members get coupons or worthless junk.
Bet the lawyers representing them didn't get 1000 copies of "willenium".
Really. I'm sure they're glad they cleaned out their warehouses and didn't have to pay a landfill fee.
The libraries should convert those CD's to MP3's and load them onto the hard drives at the libraries for copying by the aggrieved consumers.
The RIAA isn't the bad guy here. The real jackass is the Attorney General's office . . . they were the ones who agreed to have the RIAA send the CDs as part of the settlement in the first place. They knew exactly what kind of crap they were going to get; otherwise, they would have demanded cash instead.
It says a lot about the intelligence of our school and public servants that they were taken like this.
Uh, is this the same suit where, I, as a consumer who purchased at least one CD in the past 5(3?) years, could get a check for as much as $20?
But:
"There were several that were clearly marked, 'For Promotional Use Only,' " she said. Tacoma Public Library received dozens of CDs that were notched, indicating that they were not resalable.
Those are the most collectible. I spent a few years working for an independent music distributor, these CDs are the ones to keep, some have different mixes/ cuts on them, usually not released again until 20 years later on an "uncut best of" compendium. Must be a list somewhere, these sell for big money to niche collectors. Off to Ebay...
yes they did and several lawyers made out like bandits
True, but those particular CDs did hit the top 10% of the little known "Billboard's Top 100 Failed Play and Sales Chart".
More dirty tricks from the RIAA screaming how they are the victim of the public...
Those poor kids.
While this article seems somewhat critical of record companies in general, especially in reporting Seattle school systems' concern over some of the older music and the trash lyrics, I'm wondering about the rest of the story; how much this story is subtly biased towards the record companies and what facts have been omitted from the complete story.
Perhaps 115,241 music CDS would retail at $1.5 million if they weren't Promotional Cut-out CDs headed for Bargain bins at a local record store.
It's interesting that the reporter did not include the latest invasion of privacy the RIAA is currently trying to shove down consumers' throats.
This, just by itself, is a clear violation of the Eighth Amendment
Wrong,I am.
I joined in a class action for contacts. It was far more trouble than it was worth. I got basicly nothing. I'm not surpised by this just saddened. I pay as little as I can. I also shop at a used cd store. I HOPE that the internet destroys the music industry. The musicians all bitch about the contracts but all of them come right back to the trough.Then have the hubris to lecture all of US on how to vote!
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