State (California) getting dubious CD donations (antitrust settlement)

[Newsjock]

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/04/26/MNGNKCFENR1.DTL

California schools and libraries are slated to receive 665,000 free CDs starting this week as part of a $143 million antitrust settlement with music companies.

But some Bay area librarians think they're getting stuck with moldy tunes the record labels couldn't sell.

The San Francisco Public Library, for instance, will get 91 copies of a '60s rock compilation ("Feelin' Groovy"), 81 copies of an album by reality TV star Jessica Simpson ("Irresistible") and 73 copies of a "Christmas with Yolanda Adams." By contrast, it will receive only single copies of hundreds of other selections, like jazz great Louis Armstrong's "I Love Jazz."

"The impression one gets from the list is that the record companies are just unloading overstock," said John Roberts, head of the Hargrove Music Library at UC Berkeley. Roberts said it appears many libraries will receive too many copies of some titles and others they don't want at all.

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