In his RIAA blog post, Research Veep Joshua P. Friedlander recounts the Sonia Levitin children’s story “Nobody Stole the Pie” about how the citizens of Digby each asserted that it was “Not I” who stole the giant annual lollyberry pie after each had picked away at it bit by bit. Friedlander’s take on the impact of piracy on the decline of the music business is “A little bit, a little bit, a little bit won’t hurt.” However, at the rate of 4 out of 5 downloads in the U.S. being illegal P2P and other unauthorized services, 80% of the online pie slices are stolen.
Over a 10-year period, the music industry here in the States has fallen from approximately $15 billion annually to $8.5 billion. And, the digital marketplace has had a two-pronged impact. On the one hand, its helped offset the decline in physical sales, especially with the reduction in illegal P2P traffic. However, almost 4 out of 5 digital music downloads in the U.S. are via P2P and other unauthorized services. The impact of so many people eating a piece of the online lollyberry pie has done its damage to the music industry’s fiscal digestion.
According to SoundScan, the top 10 albums in 2009 sold a total of 21 million copies, and the top 10 tracks totaled 36 million paid downloads. But the top 10 albums in 1999 totaled 55 million in sales. Even with digital track sales factored in, those top sellers fell by more than 50%.
But, the impact goes far beyond number of units and downloads. During the same decade, domestic record company employees have dropped precipitously from about 25,000 people in 1999 to less than 10,000 today. More than half of these employees directly influenced the creation and development of new music. So, to those illegal downloaders stealing artists’ and record labels’ slices of the royalty pie so they can extend their self-perpetuated sense of entitlement beyond mommy buying them cars, condos and college educations, grow up. Stealing is stealing and if you think doing it is cool you’re not only a thief but an idiot. And don’t hand me that pathetic line like a young adult in his almost thirties did: “Hey, U2’s got enough money.” You want pie? Pay for it. Mommy’s kitchen is closed.
Tags: illegal downloads, music business, P2P, record industry, RIAA