The major record labels have sucked in millions of dollars in settlements of copyright-infringement suits--but little of the money has been shared with recording artists.

For example, three of the four majors banked $270 million in the lawsuit against Napster (barring Sony BMG, because BMG owns Napster). And all four have made deals with YouTube. But musicians are still waiting for the penny to drop--into their pockets, that is. Their managers and lawyers are now threatening to file lawsuits of their own, this time with the labels as defendants.

The New York Post summarized the industry's response: "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."

Shellac deduction, anyone?