Digital Music Enjoys Golden Week

An anonymous reader writes to tell us Yahoo News is reporting that the last week of December turned out to be a golden week for music downloads. From the article: 'In the seven-day stretch between Christmas and the new year, millions of consumers armed with new MP3 players (primarily iPods) and stacks of gift cards gobbled up almost 20 million tracks from iTunes and other download retailers, Nielsen SoundScan reports. In the process, consumers shattered the tracking firm's one-week record for download sales.'"

Comments

Whoa

[the-amazing-blob]

With all this, how can the RIAA still say they're losing money? I don't see how their argument works anymore.

New paradigm

[Announcer]

It's high time for the music industry to wake up. Digital music delivery systems are the new media of choice. They need to stop fighting it and embrace it... before it passes them by. The music industry needs to stop thinking "We're in the CD business."

They are a lot like the Railroad Industry of old, whose narrow vision is what led to their rapid demise... They were thinking "We are in the RAILROAD business". If they had thought "We're in the TRANSPORTATION business", instead, things would have been different for them.

New dance, same old song.

Re:Illogical arguments are still arguments...

[Firehed]

Yep. Only the RIAA could be so ignorant as to think nobody with an MP3 player actually (legally!) owned CDs prior to recieving their new shiny iPod. Honestly, with how much money they've gotten questionably, you think they could afford to come up with an argument about piracy hurting sales that actually made sense. They know damn well that them pissing people off and suing them is what's bringing down sales; if they can't make that connection, they certainly shouldn't be in such a monopolized position.

Of course, with how much Podcasting is taking off, your entertainment doesn't necessarily have to be music, and certainly doesn't have to cost anything.

Re:It's all about visions

[mejesster]

I agree on your view of the two conflicting visions, but I disagree on the possible outcomes. Copyrights MUST continue to exist and artists MUST be compensated. Hollywood and the RIAA are right when they say that if sales stop, so will the product. That does NOT mean we have to be saddled with DRM laden crap. Buy the CD and rip it yourself. Buy a DVD or DVR and timeshift/placeshift to your heart's content. Fair use is not piracy and please don't confuse the two. I envision a future where the corporations provide a product I want at a fair price in a manner that is convenient for me... but my kind of vision is nothing but a dream.