MAP Of The Human Heart

by Will 'The Cranky Music Man' Golightly

So I desperately needed "Calendar Girl" by Neil Sedaka; the nearest place to my house to buy CDs is a bookseller with a name like Amos and Andy. But I couldn’t get the CD. I’m too poor.

If you are a regular reader of this column—and I can’t think of any reason why you wouldn’t be—you may remember the "Minimum Advertised Price" policy. This is a scam by which retailers’ promotional costs are partially paid by record labels in exchange for the promise that said retailers will not sell certain CDs below a certain price. If this makes you suspicious, you are not alone.

The Federal Trade Commission, last May, made the Recording Industry Association of America abandon the MAP policy. You see, government can occasionally do something right. But it gets better: 28 states have sued the RIAA for price fixing. The suit also goes after retailers like Sam Goody, Camelot, Tower, and others.

It is estimated that the MAP policy cost consumers at least $480 million since it was started in 1995. Back then, music retailers panicked when they saw electronics stores, like Best Buy, selling CDs for several dollars less then they were. The electronic superstores could afford to sell the CDs for less because they were making a killing on the CD players. The RIAA stepped in with the MAP policy to help major retailers stay in business. This is just one more example of how they aren’t the least interested in helping the customer.

Of course, the RIAA is even less interested in helping the artists who are signed to record labels. The five major companies are represented by the RIAA: BMG, EMI, Sony, Seagram’s, Universal, and Time Warner. Last year the vinyl hit the fan when artists learned that they were no longer allowed to reclaim ownership of their master tapes. The RIAA manages to get a law through congress that made recordings "work for hire"; where once artists could reclaim there recordings after several years, under the new law the labels retain ownership for ever and ever, amen. This law was passed in fine print as part of the 1999 Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act (and how’s that for a smoke screen?).

The RIAA and various artists groups have reached an agreement on the issue. They are recommending to congress that the "work for hire" bit should be removed from copyright law. If congress goes along (and the deep pockets of the RIAA make me skeptical), things should get a little better for the artists. Now if they could only write a couple decent songs. Like "Calendar Girl."