RIAA is not paying artists from settlement proceeds

Though the trade group has made headlines with their aggressive anti–piracy programs, those who are supposed to benefit from them – the artists – are apparently not being compensated with the proceeds from the lawsuits.

Along with a number of smaller suits, the labels have successfully collected hundreds of millions of dollars – $270 million from Napster alone – but according to the New York Post, a contingent of prominent artist managers claims that little to none of that money has trickled down to their clients. They are now considering legal action.

Record label sources said corporate bosses are still deciding on how best to split the money. In determining the payout, they said not every artist is owed money and it must be calculated with regard to the level of copyright infringement for each artist. What's more, these sources said that after the labels recouped their legal expenses, there wasn't much left to pass along to the artists.