Slashdot has a story about how the New York State Attorney General announced today that he struck a deal with the largest recording companies in this country to pay out some $50 million in unpaid royalties to artists. Apparently, the RIAA has been so busy suing college students for downloading music in order to protect the interests of the artists they care about so much that they didn’t have time to keep their address books up-to-date.

Artist: “So, that money you guys were going to pay me for that music I did which you continue to profit from… where is it exactly?”

Record Company: “Oh, that? Well, see, we totally called you about that. You weren’t home. We left a message. We didn’t have your address. Could you email that to us? Solid. The rest of you go on home, and look in your mailboxes, cause we totally remember sending checks out.”

I’m sure it was an honest mistake.