Digital Home Thoughts: RIAA Declares Music Piracy Contained

"Nearly a year after the Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling against online music file-sharing services, the CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America says unauthorized song swapping has been "contained." "The problem has not been eliminated," says association CEO Mitch Bainwol. "But we believe digital downloads have emerged into a growing, thriving business, and file-trading is flat." That's an optimistic view from an industry that saw its numbers slide to near oblivion after the launch of the original Napster in 1999. CD sales fell as much as 30%, and the RIAA pressed Congress and the courts for relief against what it said was rampant piracy."



This is too funny. I think Jeremy said it best: "Bwaaaaaahahahahahahaha..." :lol: The article goes on to confirm my suspicions: The number of people sharing hasn't gone down (in fact it's increased), it's just the number of people buying music online legally has jumped so high that they're not so concerned anymore. With about 10 million people 'sharing' illegally online at any one time, I'd say it's hardly contained. There's just more options out there to "keep the honest people honest." What I really think is making them happy though is the increase in swappers has decreased since their sue campaign; there are fewer first-time swappers than there were at this time last year. Although there are no numbers to back that thought up, it's alluded to at the end of the article with: "The music industry isn't seeing double-digit growth in piracy anymore, but Hollywood is." In other words, all those people that would otherwise be sharing music are now downloading movies. It's the MPAA's headache now.