Most (if not all) statistics and 'facts' published by the RIAA and other such parties are VERY exaggerated, twisted and distorted, assuming they're not outright lies in the first place.
Tommy and Pilsner talked very well about the artist, so I'm going to talk about the industry, and specifically, lawsuits.
A common misconception is that filesharing is 'music piracy' or 'theft'. Now, I don't pretend to keep up to date with the english language, but in order for a theft to occur, property has to exist in the first place right? Theft is taking something physical from it's original owner and thus depriving them of that object, or profit they might make from the object. So, filesharing is not theft. Yet people are still afraid of 'stealing' music? Well...no...they're not...
You see, one argument for the lawsuits that people keep getting hit with is that they are an effective deterrent from illegally downloading music. Much like the idea that filesharing is theft, this is also a lie.
Every single day, more and more people are logging onto filesharing networks. The more people log on, the less likely you are to be slapped with a lawsuit. While the RIAA, IFIAA or whatever will likely say 'The lawsuits have vastly reduced the number of filesharers in the US and worldwide' the opposite is true. Infact, since the lawsuits started, the number of filesharers has increased from around 2 million to 15 million worldwide, with more than half of these people living in the US.
Now, the recording industry is reporting a steady decline in sales each year since filesharing became the 'big thing'. They're attributing this loss of sales to filesharing. What they don't publicize is that they distribute less and less CDs to stores worldwide each year. Nearly up to 150 million CDs worldwide. It is this 'loss of sales' that has been blamed on p2p networks.
Apparently filesharing is KILLING the music industry, which lets be honest, is an industry that *should* have died back in the 80s, like the British RIAA equivalent the BPI promised back in early 80s with this advertising campaign:
The recording industry is reporting a loss of "billions" in sales, and quite frankly, this is so absurd and ridiculous, mostly for reasons already stated in this thread, and indeed in this post that I'm not even going to address it.
Filesharers are not criminals, they have not done anything wrong. There is not a single person worldwide who has been found guilty in a court of law for "filesharing" or even "illegally downloading music". Why is this? Well...it's not illegal. It's frowned upon, but none of the things that the RIAA is slapping lawsuits on people for seem to be illegal. They HAVE however broken many laws regarding people's privacy and invaded on a lot of people's rights in order to get money from these alleged "criminals".
It's a well known fact, the major label music industry is comprised of nothing but complete and utter bastards, and they are doing nothing to change my mind. Actually, I read a report that since parents have been wisening up and stating they can not be held accountable for their children infringing copyright laws, the recording industry has now started targetting children.
That's right. After suing the poor, the elderly AND the deceased, encouraging people to drop out of school to pay up and using scare tactics and harassment in order to get money from people, they are now directly suing minors.