Page 1 of RIAA claims CD sales are down due to piracy despite being up

No I don`t understand it either. For some reason the RIAA claims that CD sales this year in the US are down 7% on 2003 for the same period, blaiming piracy as the main cause.

Yet the official tracking system (by Soundscan, owned by Nielson of TV ratings fame) which the RIAA actually pays to track these things, states clearly that sales are 10% up on 2003.

Full story:
http://www.kensei-news.com/bizdev/publish/factoids_us/article_23374.shtml

Obviously if you are amongst the 0.0001% of the population who actually likes the RIAA, don`t click or it might change your views.

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"There has to be a balance between telling the truth and reassurance"
Home Secretary David Blunkett

That`s shocking. I thought at first maybe it was 7% down in monetary value (as opposed to 10% up in quantity of untis sold) but it`s blatant fiddling.

Can they not admit that it`s actually good for the music industry? I have bought 3 albums in the last 3 months on the back of downloading them after never hearing them. It`s a free, easy way of promoting a band!

I don`t think they will ever condone file sharing/piracy and say it helps the industry.

Another important factor to consider is whilst the number of units sold has increased, so has the number of legally downloaded songs increased. Therefore the market is even healthier than this report suggests.


I`m too old for this sh*t!

Although I quite like having CDs as they`re a physical entity that you can touch, rub and stroke against your face, since buying an iPod that holds my entire collection in a little white device, I`m looking forward to the future.

Imagine a wireless world, where you carry a small transmitter / reciever that links to your house via repeaters placed all over the country, where a disk contains all of your music, for access anywhere in the world. It could be incorporated into ID cards as a way of coaxing in the doubters :)

It really doesn`t surprise me that the RIAA would twist facts like this, it seems they`d stop at nothing to squeeze every penny they can get out of consumers. Here`s the real reasons for the so called losses:

Record companies insist on signing `artists` that will only be around for 5 minutes

They pay talentless twats like Robbie Williams substantial amounts of money to produce second rate albums. He`s got his money, what does he care if he creates a pile of s***

File Sharing is probably to blame for part of the losses, for example, someone may want to buy the new Britney Spears album so they decide to download a couple of tracks to see what its like, realize that she`s an overpaid media whore who has the talent of a overweight possum whose looks gather more attention than her inability to sing and in the end don`t bother buying the album.

The price of a CD is to say the least daylight robbery, why is that? Is it because they spent all their money on the artist and so in order to make a profit they have to sell CDs at an extortionate rate. The RIAA have even admitted this:

From the RIAA website:

"Of course, the most important component of a CD is the artist's effort in developing that music. Artists spend a large portion of their creative energy on writing song lyrics and composing music or working with producers and A&R executives to find great songs from great writers. This task can take weeks, months, or even years. The creative ability of these artists to produce the music we love, combined with the time and energy they spend throughout that process is in itself priceless. But while the creative process is priceless, it must be compensated. Artists receive royalties on each recording, which vary according to their contract, and the songwriter gets royalties too. In addition, the label incurs additional costs in finding and signing new artists."

Thats no f***ing excuse if you ask me. Here`s the answer to your little problem, stop paying `Artists` millions and millions. It`s not hard is it? Jesus.

Read the whole of that article here: http://www.riaa.com/news/marketingdata/cost.asp

Is there any wonder people download music when it costs them at least £13 for ONE CD.

If you can`t be arsed to read the above (I don`t blame you) here`s a summary:

Record companies + Greed = Losses.

Quote:
File Sharing is probably to blame for part of the losses, for example, someone may want to buy the new Britney Spears album so they decide to download a couple of tracks to see what its like, realize that she`s an overpaid media whore who has the talent of a overweight possum whose looks gather more attention than her inability to sing and in the end don`t bother buying the album.

In the long run, this is definitely a good thing for the record industry.

If people don`t buy s***e, they are exercising their right as a consumer to buy what they like. If it bankrupts a few greedy record companies, but forces them to clean up their act and produce decent acts, then everyone will be better off.

Listening to the radio on the way home an hour ago, there was a song by some band / group / duo called Sam and Mark. FFS I haven`t heard such drivel in ages. This crap got to number 19 somehow. They must be bloody good looking to get to 19 with a track like that.

A quick look on the radio 1 site gave me this: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/media/g2/artists/sam_and_mark/sun.ram

Listen to it for yourself, if you dare!

Good point Bigfan, but I can`t see it happening in my lifetime.

As for the Sam and Mark link, I would rarther not poison my ears listening to the same mindrot bollocks off the radio. The only show I listen to on Radio 1 is occasionally the Zane Lowe show.

This item was edited on Sunday, 30th May 2004, 18:44

We have the radio on at work from time to time, and I have to say I`ve never heard Sam and Mark on before.

A quick scan on Google leads me to believe they are from Pop Idol (spit) so that explains a lot.

Are they lovers?



Edit: They have bloody short arms as well!

This item was edited on Sunday, 30th May 2004, 19:12

Shockingly enough, Courtney Love has written a really insightful essay on the subject. Its a very, very, interesting read.LINK

One of the more interesting points she makes is that record companies have a 95% failure rate of new artists and to make up for this they fleece the 5% of successful artist out of 95% of their money.

Also, on a side note, why have people not noticed that the are getting ripped off by digital downloads? 99c for a tune? Are you serious? Thats more than it would cost if you bought the album CD (even at its hugely inflated price) and its better quality!

They have just lurched from one method of skanking us to another.