Recording industry complains - 95% of digital music is obtained illegally!

Digital music revenues are up but the recording industry is complaining - Not like they don’t charge an arm and a leg anyway.

All that is happening is a rationalisation in the market. Consumers pay for good music and won’t pay for the rest of the padding that makes up an album, particularly as most of it is just rubbish. Why should an additional charge be levied on a medium that has increasing revenue purely on the basis of figures that they can’t prove?

From economist.com 4/2/09

Big record companies and music-retailer may be struggling, but sales of digital music are booming. Global revenues leaped by 28% last year, despite piracy - up to 95% of digital music is obtained illegally, reckons the IFPI, a trade body. Though this figure is disputed, governments are enacting tougher legislation to catch illegal file-sharers and shut down the sites they use. Last week Britain’s government proposed a £20 ($28.60) levy on every household using broadband to help offset the costs of piracy.