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RIAA's Statistics Don't Add Up to Piracy
From: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Mon, 16 Dec 2002 19:59:00 -0500
RIAA's Statistics Don't Add Up to Piracy By George Ziemann December 11, 2002 The RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) has a real funny way of looking at things. Not funny - "ha ha", Funny - "odd." Before you read the rest of this story, I heartily encourage the reader to click on the RIAA link above. Make your own judgement before you hear a thing I have to say. Take your time. Be sure to look at their Market Data because I'm going to be quoting it. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The sky is falling! The music industry is doomed! Woe is everyone. The pirates have stolen all the gold. What will we ever do? How can we possibly recover? You've poured water on us and we're melting! Let's quote a few of the RIAA's statements. The first quote comes from the report on 2001 year-end shipments. The title -- "Recent study Illustrates Internet Piracy's Impact on Music Market" WASHINGTON-The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) announced today that the number of units shipped domestically from record companies to retail outlets and special markets (music clubs and mail order) fell 10.3 percent in 2001. Specifically, total U.S. shipments dropped from 1.08 billion units shipped in 2000 to 968.58 million in 2001-a 10.3 percent decrease. The dollar value of all music product shipments decreased from $14.3 billion in 2000 to $13.7 billion in 2001-a 4.1 percent decrease, according to figures released today by the RIAA. "This past year was a difficult year in the recording industry, and there is no simple explanation for the decrease in sales. The economy was slow and 9/11 interrupted the fourth quarter plans, but, a large factor contributing to the decrease in overall shipments last year is online piracy and CD-burning," said Hilary Rosen, President and CEO of the RIAA. "When 23 percent of surveyed music consumers say they are not buying more music because they are downloading or copying their music for free, we cannot ignore the impact on the marketplace." Time out. Total number of units fell 10.3 percent. Total sales dropped 4.1 percent. Sorry, Hilary, there is a simple explanation -- The economy sucks, you guys raised prices anyway while promising to copy-protect everything and make it harder to listen to. The consumer took a step back. And here is another contributing factor, from their article, "The Value of a CD". Last time I looked, this was the top story on the RIAA home page. <snip> http://www.azoz.com/music/features/0008.html ------------------------------------- You are subscribed as interesting-people () lists elistx com To unsubscribe or update your address, click http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/
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- RIAA's Statistics Don't Add Up to Piracy Dave Farber (Dec 16)