Linkage: Ticketmaster To Refund Millions, The 4.74 Degrees of Separation, More…

The proposed settlement of a class-action lawsuit could have Ticketmaster paying pack millions; Facebook makes it 4.74 degrees of Kevin Bacon, and Google Music uses Cyber Monday to jump-start the service…

The concert-going world has never loved Ticketmaster and its “convenience fees.”

Now, based on the proposed settlement of a class-action lawsuit, a few of those dollars may be coming back to consumers. Seems that the ticketing giant got caught on what really amounts to a technicality in not properly disclosing that Ticketmaster was profiting from some fees. Really?

Anyway, a legal team went after them for this oversight and it could mean as much as $30.50 coming back to ticket buyers. While amounting to roughly a concert T-shirt for consumers, it will stress the already stressed parent Live Nation even more. The attorneys who filed the case are looking for more than $16 million in fees — and then there are the potentially tens of thousands of claims. Do the math. Not good.

See our previous post on the struggling concert giant here, and read more specifics about the lawsuit on Huffington Post.

If you missed this stat a week or so ago, it’s worth circling back on.

We all know about the Six Degrees of Separation, but we know about it primarily from the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon meme.

Researchers at the University of Milan and Facebook cranked some numbers, and found that the 721 million “friends” on Facebook are actually much closer.

It’s now just 4.74 Degrees of Separation. Not quite as catchy, but quite amazing nonetheless.

Geek out on the story in The New York Times.

Lots of fanfare about the official launch of Google Music.

While probably a pretty solid product, it’s launch is something of a snooze since it comes years after iTunes and Amazon have been cementing relationships with users.

Among Google Music’s major challenges is acquiring customers — no small feat with the millions who are already have accounts elsewhere. Getting those accounts created is a true pain in the ass for any online retailer.

Earlier in the year, we saw the genius stunt pulled by Amazon in selling the Lady Gaga album for just 99 cents. It likely resulted in tens of thousands of new accounts for the retailer, and many more probably took the service for a test-drive for the first time. The loss Amazon took on the deal is just a customer acquisition cost.

It’s really not at all different that when Best Buy took losses on CDs in order to get customers in the store.

On Cyber Monday, Google tore a page out of that playbook, offering albums from Coldplay, Florence and the Machine, and many others for just $1.99.

While there’s a danger in devaluing music further, at least they’re training the consumer to pay for the product rather than rip it off. Expect more of this as the three-way download war heats up. More in Mashable.