The RIAA - stupidity at it's finest -

[Solar56]

Some of you make very good points, but most of you are not informed as to reality. The recording industry has suffered near 30% of historical sales, not 6%. The number of new releases is not relevant to the figures, they are based on per album sales. P2P is a good thing, but not for sharing illegal material. Many of you have made statements that are wholly uniformed and it is obvious in many cases that you are speaking with only your own selfish interests in mind.

Comparing CD prices to movie prices is silly. Ever hear of a music CD rental store? The residual revenues from movie sales allow them to be manufactured and sold at a "discount". It doesn't cost 20-200 million to produce a music CD, but there are less marketing sources for music CD's. Remember that movies have already made their run at the theaters where they make money unlike musicians who typically make very little touring and the labels mostly lose money. Only a few artists are able to make money touring for their labels. Aside from a Britney doll or New kids beach towel there is very little in the way of licensing for music artists as well.

For those of you who say that the RIAA and the like can eat their shorts and want to keep stealing copyrighted material you are fools to think that you are sneaking anything. Every illegal download from Kazza for example is monitored and the recipient registered in the RIAA database. They have already started sending out bills for downloaded music. Many people have lost their jobs due to their workplaces getting billed.

If you think that P2P only communicates with individual clients you are very wrong. Every single nybble of information that is passed on the web is monitored at the dozen or so main data trunks. They are passed though filters to sort out any info that is deemed illegal or threatening to the powers that be.

Don't forget that labels only make money from distribution, the artists get writers rights as well. They receive a large portion of their money from radio play and movie soundtracks.

P2P is good for bands, but not when people are copying entire songs and albums and not paying a cent for them. You are stealing when you do this. There is nothing you can say that will change this fact.