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Digital Music Sales Skyrocket in 2005
Luke PiWalker writes "The market for digital music hit $1.1 billion in 2005, more than triple 2004 sales. But the industry, wanting to wring the maximum profit out of the consumer, remains fixated on piracy." From the article: "The IFPI also called on ISPs to join the fight against music piracy, which it claims severely erodes the profits of its 1,450 member record companies across the globe. The IFPI added that the legitimate music business was gradually gaining ground on digital piracy. It said research showed that in Europe's two biggest digital markets -- Britain and Germany -- more music fans are now legally downloading music than illegally file-swapping."
How are they measuring piracy? How can they possibly get reliable figures on the level of music piracy.
Not that I am necessarily complaining. If the industry is content to consider that online piracy is not as big as legal downloads perhaps they will leave online music alone and look at people who actually make money from piracy (e.g. sales of counterfit CDs/DVDs)?
-- "You never mentioned comets before, Mac. This opens up a whole new area of negotiation." - Gordon Urquart
This seems to have little to do with any anti-piracy efforts from the record labels and much more to do with the wide-spread availability of legal markets for digital music for the first time.
This is a lot like the war on terra. They won't have successfully "won" until there isn't a single person out there making a copy of a song for someone else without paying. In short, it will never end...
This guy's the limit!
This is the difference between a discrminating music buyer and someone who buys the top 40 hit of the week. One buys music because they like the music. The other buys the music because it's cool and that's what they're supposed to do.
This guy's the limit!
I don't see why the fact you're "an IP lawyer" should have anything to do with what side you're on. So am I, as it happens. So, for that matter, is Eben Moglen, and I don't seek him rushing to support the RIAA any time soon.
This isn't about people being paid money they deserve - I don't have any problem with the record industry charging for their products, and I don't (generally) make (many) illegal copies of music or have any great sympathy for those caught putting 000s of tracks on file-sharing services
The point is that though that the music industry is turning file-sharing and "piracy" into a scapegoat and using this to at best inconvenience, at worst rip-off their legitimate customers (or even compromise their computer systems - can you say, "rootkit"?). Copy-protected CDs, restrictive licensing/DRMing of music downloads (so that people moving from the US to Europe lose all their iTunes downloads, for example). Twenty years ago if you changed your hifi you didn't have to repurchase your entire record collection. Now? Oops, please tell me you didn't switch from an iPod to another make of "MP3" player? And whaddya mean you bought a copy-protected CD and now you want to listen it on your iPod? Go buy a downloaded version as well, you thief!
The fact is that what makes money for the record companies is good music that people want to buy. It's the failure to find any really bankable, long-term, good quality acts that is the real problem for the record industry, but they prefer to make examples of a few "pirates" rather than address those deeper-rooted problems.
This story only goes to underline this - find the right product, the right price and the right delivery mechanism, and people really do prefer to buy the legitimate goods rather than going for illegal copies.