Major labels get a taste of their own...

The major record labels Warner, Sony BMG, EMI and Universal are on the hook for up to $6 billion USD in damages after being accused of pirating 300,000 tracks.

The report says that the labels continually make compilation CDs without first securing the rights to the music, simply putting it on a "pending list" to deal with later. That "later" has yet to come. So far, since the mid-80's, the pending list has ballooned to over 300,000 tracks.

Says David Basskin, the President and CEO of the Canadian Musical Reproduction Rights Agency Ltd, via Michael Geist: "The record labels have devoted insufficient resources to identifying and paying the owners of musical works on the Pending Lists."

A group of musicians in Canada have now filed a class-action lawsuit against the Big 4, and the CRIA (Canada's RIAA), over illegal use of thousands of tracks.

“The conduct of the defendant record companies is aggravated by their strict and unremitting approach to the enforcement of their copyright interests against consumers,” says the suit.

Each infringement can bring in $20,000 USD (on average), so multiplied by 300,000 the potential liability is $6 billion for the labels.

We will certainly keep you updated.