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Illegal music downloading still on rise

Despite the lawsuits filed against thousands of U.S. citizens by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the number of people engaged in so called "illegal file sharing" and the number of music transfers has soared in the past year. The record industry wants to stamp out P2P sharing, which it blames almost exclusively for a 23% worldwide decline in sales of music CDs between 2000 and 2006.

To give you an idea of the size of illegal file sharing, Big Champagne estimates that over 1 billion tracks are exchanged monthly. Compare that against Apple's iTunes service, which has sold just over 2 billion songs since it launched back in 2003, which also represents over 70% of the legal music download business.



Russ Crupnick, an analyst at consumer research group NPD, noted a 7% rise in the number of U.S. households engaged in filesharing, and a 24% increase in illegal downloads over the past year. "P2P remains an unacceptable problem," said Mitch Bainwol, RIAA president. "The folks engaged in the practice are doing more of it."

Source:
Reuters

Written by: James Delahunty @ 7 Feb 2007 7:31

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• 26 comments

• solarf

  Of course it is. A few lawsuits wont stop everyone not when its so easy to do it.

  7.2.2007 08:00 #1

• hughjars

  Of course, it's absolutely nothing to do with the worthless re-treads and utter dross the 'industry' keeps serving up to us all, right?
  
  I wonder how much P2P activity is people replacing LPs and tapes (that they already have paid for) of older stuff with a newer digital replacement?

  7.2.2007 08:35 #2

• georgeluv

  file sharing will continue to grow and there is nothing the RIAA or MPAA can do about it. it has actualy gotten harder for the RIAA and MPAA to do anything about it. every time they stamp out a site or service 10 others pop up in other countries scattered all over the world. supernova was taken down but every major torrent site after that has been back up days after being taken down. i dont even ponder a near-future without total unfetterd file sharing as a constitutional right, its simply the will of the people. when the 15 - 25 year olds of now become the leaders of tomarow free file sharing will be as common as listening to the radio.
  
  "I wonder how much P2P activity is people replacing LPs and tapes (that they already have paid for) of older stuff with a newer digital replacement?"
  
  a sizeable amount, as much as the RIAA wont admit it. the music storage mediums we have been forced to adobt since portable music storage became common have been progressivly more and more fragile. tapes wear out after a wile, cds only have a shelf life of 10 years, even if simply placed in proper storage and never even used. dvds are just more fragile versions of cds. just one more reason i havent bought a cd since 2002

  7.2.2007 11:27 #3

• spydah

  Well I see this situation like this the RIAA and MPAA will always slap some fake numbers up because it makes what their doing look better to judges and lawyers they use against people that dont have the financial backing to fight SOB's off. As many of you have seen all they want to do is completely take of P2P networks and use them to make more money because thats what people are into today. They took sites like Napster, Kazaa and others and slapped a price on it and controlled the content in which you can get off there and thats pretty much what they want to do with all of them. But were they keep losing at is the quality of movies , music and so forth hasnt really been that good since 2000 and people dont want to spend all this money on some BS they pushing in stores for $14-$20+ or dvds that are $14 - whatver they mark it up too. It is easier to get from P2P sites and it is a better source to find what you want and need to hear and watch rather then spending extra time running store to store to hope you can get what you want there which more times then none you wont find what your looking for there on top of the cost of it. They need to give up and stop over charging people for some dumb#$@ $#1t like downloading a file. I still go to the theaters and watch movies that i like and want to see. They dont lose a damn thing but they will consistently say they are for the sake of arguing and taking more money from people because they can. Thats all I will say on this.

  7.2.2007 11:54 #4

• 21Q

  well if cd's didn't cost so much for the three good songs and the 7 worthless songs, people would buy the cd's

  7.2.2007 12:02 #5

• limelight

  The 23% decline in music sales is simply because: The music that the record labels are putting out is stale, uninspired, and just plain boring.

  7.2.2007 17:22 #6

• AlmostOz

  I'm always on the lookout for good music, and im prepared to pay for it if i hear it, but all the stuff being put out since 2000 is utter crap, theres only a been a few good bands since 2000.
  
  theres other reasons people download stuff. Especially tv series
  
  House comes out in america, and is finished before it is released in Australia.
  You can either wait all that time to watch one episode each night at a certain time, which is clogged with advertising, or you can wait even longer until its all over and buy the boxset, or you can most likely find it on p2p and get it now. I would pay for the boxset if i could get it now.
  
  thats the difference, the new generation wants everything now. We live in a world that demands results immediately, so we expect everything else immediately. Tv is becoming outdated.

  7.2.2007 18:51 #7

• tabletpc

  and worse they cannot find half of these people because of hacks to hide there ip address's send the riaa's software to japan and china
  
  so lawsuits dont do nothing

  7.2.2007 21:08 #8

• Blackjax

  Want a laugh here's one.....
  I posted a message up on one of the big three networks website in response to a story about itunes from that companies ceo. I couldn't resist because I know the traffic that crosses that website. >:) Funny I looked at it tonight and my post is gone! LOL I must have offended someone as it simply stated get rid of the DRM junk on cd's and dvd's. Your customers are your most important asset and they are tired of your games. Maybe mister CEO read it and reported it as offensive. Anyhow I though it might give some of you a laugh.

  7.2.2007 22:15 #9

• davydham

  If I were them I would just go over to http://www.generalzod.net and kneel.

  8.2.2007 04:36 #10

• Gradical

  The cocaine is destroying society, lets press charges against anyone who has any cocaine, whe throw them to jail and we put a big fine and then they wont do it again.
  
  then we start making raids on cocaine distributors and they'll stop doing it
  
  Bizarre Resemblance?
  or
  Concurrent Stupidity?

  8.2.2007 06:15 #11

• BludRayne

  I agree, today's music sucks. But then, why are people pirating crappy music? Hmmm...

  8.2.2007 08:04 #12

• ZippyDSM

  Originally posted by BludRayne:I agree, today's music sucks. But then, why are people pirating crappy music? Hmmm...Its alot like gaming you muddle threw hoping/wishing/praying soemthign better will come along.

  8.2.2007 09:30 #13

• hughjars

  Well that's the interesting thing, we're told all this piracy goes on but almost never what is being pirated.
  
  I suspect a hell of a lot of it isn't the latest thing at all.

  8.2.2007 13:45 #14

• ZippyDSM

  hughjars
  from what I have seen maybe 30% of it is new stuff,new stuff is always available but theres just alot more old stuff.

  8.2.2007 18:14 #15

• Unlockneo

  lol I download my music on YouTube
  
  http://www.digital-digest.com/articles/F...uide_page1.html

  9.2.2007 01:47 #16

• ggs

  I legally purchased a DVD of Deep Purple in Cocert for group and Ochestra at the royal Albert Hall, only to find that one track had been edited by nearly three minutes. The pathetic excuse through EMI was that the recording had been made by the BBC and the tape had been cut to save time. I suggest the record companies look at themselves in the mirror first. I felt cheated.

  10.2.2007 00:07 #17

• ZippyDSM

  ggs
  agreed they edit change add and then wonder why people complain.

  10.2.2007 00:24 #18

• borhan9

  Hasn't the RIAA realized yet they are fighting a loosing battle. But maybe they do this so they don't end up on the unemployment end of the workforce :P

  10.2.2007 10:35 #19

• Xenores

  RIAA is just needs to take what they can get and forget about the people doing it I mean come on you're dealing with a bunch of people doing these things, for them its a losing battle.

  13.2.2007 12:34 #20

• pmaknelho

  Have there been any cases against people ONLY downloading(like IRC and Usenet)? or are all the lawsuits against people using P2Ps and getting caught uploading a part of the file while they're downloading the whole thing? They cant really catch someone downloading unless that person tries to download from the MPAA or RIAA, right? Kind of like trying to buy crack from a cop in uniform.

  16.2.2007 16:40 #21

• emugamer

  The RIAA and MPAA are attaching a dollar value to every transfer made on P2P. Just because someone downloads 50 songs, it doesn't mean that he would run to the store and buy them if he wasn't connected to other peers. That person may not have the money to drop on that much music....ever in his life. They want everything we see and hear to translate into $$$$. It's not going to happen....ever. If people can't have P2P, they will go to warez. Or record a good song off their old CD/Cassete recorder. Or ask a friend to rip it for them. Or have a friend make a mix CD for them. The "pirating" (as they like to call it) will always be there, they just wouldn't have a way to track it. These idiots in the big offices and plush leather chairs just don't understand the industry or what their customers want. Quantity, not quality should be their mantra. I don't care what any self-righteous person says about music sharing. I don't believe it is wrong at all. Music piracy is just a silly term made up to make people feel bad about themselves. Go ahead and flame if you want. I buy music all the time. I enjoy opening the wrapper of a fresh CD knowing that the artist put time and effort into his recording.
  
  Last Albums purchased:
  Pearl Jam
  Red Hot Chilli Peppers - Mothers Milk to replace my cassette and Stadium Arcadium
  Tom Petty - Damn the Torpedoes and Highway Companion
  Bob Dylan - Blood on the Tracks

  18.2.2007 08:52 #22

• scorpNZ

  Pirating is on the rise huh, so is leagal mp3 downloads on the rise,i'm not sure of the figures but something tells me the leagal swamp the illeagal,then there's the fact a good portion of so called illeagal downloads are people like myself sampling new music ready for buying a new album from a previously would'nt normally bother with that band...nough said...
  
  RE: RIAA declining sales from my understanding the figures they quote are from declining cd sales can anyone confirm ?? if it is true it kinda puts things in perspective,i also believe a lot of the RIAA problems stem from not moving with the times kinda like SONY's online gaming aspect...lol...

  18.2.2007 12:45 #23

• Katelynn (unverified)

  HI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  13.4.2010 07:57 #24

• RIAA Employee (unverified)

  To be honest we are giving up. This is a losing battle and my boss is feeling the stress. There are too many people. even he dowloads music illegaly, so do I

  7.3.2011 23:33 #25

• DVDBack23

  Originally posted by RIAA Employee: To be honest we are giving up. This is a losing battle and my boss is feeling the stress. There are too many people. even he dowloads music illegaly, so do I hahahah nice :p
  
  Why is this thread open though?...
  

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  7.3.2011 23:44 #26