2000-2010: RIAA Spends +$90 Million On Lobbying

Since 2000, the RIAA has spent over $90 million in government lobbying efforts in the U.S. alone.

In 2000, the record industry spent a mere $4 million, in attempt to shape the public opinion of file-sharing. By 2009, that figure rose to $17.5 million. The motion picture industry spent less than half of what the record industry in lobbying during the same period.

The RIAA have also spent over $50 million in legal fees in the lawsuit campaign intended to thwart illegal file-sharing, according to tax filings and estimates by attorneys involved in the litigation. Mike Masnick of TechDirt makes this remark: 

"Considering how often we hear people assume that correlation of file sharing stats to record label revenue means file sharing is the cause of the labels problems, shouldn't they also claim that the more the RIAA spends on lobbying, the worse the labels do as well," he questions. "Perhaps the answer for the record labels is to get the RIAA to stop lobbying." What's your take?