As the adage goes, the devil you know can be preferable to the devil you don't know. That's my interpretation of today's announcement that Vivendi Universal Music (the most major of the major labels) is buying BMG Music Publishing for $2.1 billion, with the bonus tidbit that Bertelsmann, the parent company which is selling BMG Music Publishing to Vivendi, only has to pay Vivendi $60 million as a settlement relating to its $100 million investment in the original Napster file-sharing network.
Since labels seek up to $150,000 for each infringed song, the group of publishers which sued Napster sought "at least $17 billion" in damages. So why settle a significant chunk of the suit for a piddling $60 million? It's my suspicion that the reduced settlement has something to do with these massive music conglomerates' recognition that it's now them against the world.
Bertelsmann, which, "admitted no liability as part of the settlement," still faces other music publishers as part of the suit. We'll just have to wait and see whether those settlements are as surprisingly amicable as this one.
Update: Bertelsman settles with more music publisher settle
