Why should we the consumer (the people that put the food on the riaas plate in the first place )be punished for the RiAA’s failed to evolve with the times and tech. Their business model no longer works and that is our fault ? They seem to think so and plan on punishing us by legal action .Bootlegging has been a part of there business from day one , I have collected bootleg vinyl 78 and 33 rpm albums , Through the 70s and 80s we all bought blank tapes by the case . Then the industry came up with CDs , That worked for a bit because they were a BETTER PRODUCT. Times have changed and CDs in their present state are impractical (why would you want to carry around 10 cds when you can carry 100 albums on a hard drive).

Only the truly ignorant would continue on the path the RIAA has chosen .To alienate your consumers by fear is suicide .There are working models that they could follow . Lets take the “Greatfull Dead” their albums produced little revenue , but they managed to become one of the top paid acts in the 90s due to their relentless touring (them boys earned their millions ). They were smart enough to realize the one thing a recording, no matter how good ,cant compete with is the energy (and revenue) of a live performance . ………….Its kind of a no brainier when you think about it , The industry can no longer compete with a mere recording and needs to stop relying on that , give us something we cant download ………and a bonus to that would be more jobs has opposed to a drain on our legal system
Sincerly , Randygod, pirate from birth

Once a sound or ray of light has been broadcast on a free network, it enters the public domain. You can’t control whose ear or eye is affected.

Your chance to make money is before the sound is broadcast on a free network. You have other chargable networks available to you. I suggest you use them.

These ‘declining sales’ figures include which lablels?
Just the majors?
Are the small independent lables included in these numbers?
Is it just RIAA related labels?
Are they per market?

Here’s why I ask these questions:

I’ve been buying CDs over the past few years, but they are from small labels that are NOT associated with the RIAA. I’m also buying plenty of Japanese and Korean CDs and I live in the US.

Filesharing has allowed me to explore more and different types of music as well as artists that are not associated with the major labels who are represented by the RIAA. I have consitently found that I LIKE what I’m hearing from non-RIAA labels more than what I’m hearing from the RIAA camp.

From where I sit, it looks to me as if it is more about *control* of WHAT you and I hear than it is about filesharing itself.

Listening to, and BUYING music from, non-RIAA labels is a bigger threat to them that some 15-year old d/l’ing the latest teen idol.

Oh yeah, about the layoffs thing, welcome to *our* world. The RIAA and other music industry reps speak as if the music industry workers should be pitied more than the rest of us. They aren’t a protected class of citizen.

They’re control of content distribution is failing and it is the CORE of their business model. I guess they’ll just have to sweat paying bills like the rest of us.