The RIAA has resources that help explain the piracy issues facing the industry as well as offer sources that help you obtain legal content. Inside its Legal Music Services tab is a list full of online music retail stores. There are millions of legal downloads available from sites like Napster, ITunes, Pandora and AOLmusic. This provides a source for people to go to for music without the fear of being sued for illegal downloading. Ultimately, the sites are licensed by major record-companies to ensure legality and to make sure the money stays in the family.
It’s no secret the music industry is losing money to piracy. I remember when I had a computer with a CD burner, which I would use to burn copies of music I downloaded onto writable Cd's for all of my friends. Little did I know that I was infringing on industry copyrights. Like many I could have lost everything I have before I even got anything. The same is true for most people; many of them do not know how piracy impacts the industry.
The RIAA does a good job of clarifying what Piracy is, who is affected most by it and what are the laws for it within its Piracy tab. It is astounding how much of a decline has resulted within the industry. Although digital sales are outranking the traditional compact disc, according to the RIAA the music business has increased its digital revenues by 1,000 percent from 2004 to 2010. However, digital music theft has helped the overall global market decline of around 31 percent in the same period.
NPD reports that only 37 percent of music acquired by U.S. consumers in 2009 was paid for. These are necessary numbers to pay attention to. If you do not know the laws, this association is there to help you understand. With the data on public record it makes it easier for everyone to recognize the problem and not just dismiss it as hearsay.
As an artist these numbers scare me a bit. I wonder how I will compete in an industry where there are more people working than it is money to pay them. This is a reason why many artist pursuing there careers independently never merge with the record companies. They have multiple ways to sell their music but yet they’re not making money fast enough. Digital downloads hurt the value of the industry too. The impulse of the consumer is not as high for an album as it would be for a single they can download off the Internet. Ultimately, it seems like the RIAA has taken efforts to help re-establish the value of the industry. Educating its consumers on a major industry issue could prove helpful overtime.
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