Fewer Downloads, But Does That Actually Help The Music Industry?

from the what-do-the-stats-say? dept

Lots of hype this morning about a new study suggesting that the RIAA's "sue everyone!" strategy is getting people to stop downloading. The study has found fewer downloads, and say that the drop is bigger than you would expect for "seasonal" changes. I don't think it's a surprise that a percentage of people have decided to stop downloading music, but I don't think that's the point. While some are interpreting this study to say that the RIAA's tactics are "working" - I think the stats only show half the story. The more interesting number is whether or not sales of CDs go up at a corresponding rate to the number of downloads that decreased. Since the music industry insists that any download is actually a stolen song, shouldn't that mean any decrease in downloads automatically means an increase in CD sales? If CD sales continue to slump, wouldn't that suggest that the RIAA's basic assumption (downloading hurts CD sales) is wrong?
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 21 Aug 2003 @ 11:06am

    No Subject Given

    Also around that time the apple itunes store opened up and they had about 1 million downloads the first week or two ... forget the actual stat but it was high.

    Could be that once people were provided with a better model for acquiring music legally that file sharing no longer held the appeal it used to ?

    Think maybe the 4 or so million users they are down are all mac heads ?

    I've used both file sharing services and the apple store and the apple store simply provides a better experience and takes a hell of a lot less time to find what you're looking for.

    Yo, record companies (and rolling stones) ARE YOU LISTENING ?????

    RJD

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 23 Aug 2003 @ 10:38pm

      No Subject Given

      IMO those matters would have a little to do with it, but although i've stopped downloading it's more to do with the fact that all the new songs out are pure crap =]

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Chris, 21 Aug 2003 @ 11:16am

    No Subject Given

    It is summer - with all the college kids back home with Mom and Dad's dial up connection. Let see what happens next month when they are back on campus with practically unlimited bandwidth.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    thecaptain, 22 Aug 2003 @ 6:03am

    No Subject Given

    Could it be also a factor that many many people have already downloaded what they wanted?

    I used to download a lot (wrong or right) mostly songs I have already on old tapes or CDs I can't be bothered to rip or my old vinyl...and a percentage of stuff that I didn't originally have...

    but personally it's been about 4-5 months since I've downloaded an MP3, I've got the songs I want and none of the new crap is something my ears crave.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    bastard sam, 22 Aug 2003 @ 6:48am

    No Subject Given

    Who is saying there are fewer downloads? Is it the RIAA? This information isn't exactly public. Who's releasing it, and how credible is that information?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 22 Aug 2003 @ 9:13am

      Re: No Subject Given

      According to my unscientific calculations of signing on daily, I can see that the amount of file shares or Kazaa has not decreased and hovers around the high 3 million mark and frequently goes over 4 million.
      I suspect these are RIAA " facts " being force fed to the public is their poor attempt to intimidate.

      I think they call that propoganda

      link to this | view in chronology ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.