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Digital Music Piracy Since 2004 [INFOGRAPHIC]

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The impact of unauthorized filesharing on the music industry has been debated since the dawn of Napster. Some believe it's been catastrophic and others see only minimal net impact. A new infographic from WebPageFX uses RIAA and IFPA stats to illustrate the more negative view.  Do you agree?

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via WebPageFX

 

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24 Comments

  1. While I feel SOPA and PIPA were vague and left too much room for overreach by the Federal Government, something has to be done to protect intellectual property. A survey from a very reputable company a couple years ago indicated that about 40% of the music consumed in the U.S. each year was stolen. I don’t know ANY industry that can withstand that much shrinkage and still survive. Artists deserve their wages too. Who is looking out for them? While I am sensitive to the fact that the internet needs to remain as free and open as possible, I also see a need to stop piracy in an intelligent and fair way.

  2. “Since 2004 the music industry has increased digital revenues by 1,000%”
    “Digital piracy” is just the modern version of borrowing your friend’s CD and taping it. The reason people did that is they were too poor to buy the CD.
    I would rather people have my music for free if they can’t afford to pay for it.
    Artists and bands don’t suffer from free downloads. The only people who complain about this are the people who are exploiting the works of others – mostly unnecessary middlemen.

  3. ” I don’t know ANY industry that can withstand that much shrinkage and still survive.”
    Unless that industry is made up of a select few orginizations that completely over charge for their product and use shady terms to leverage themselves into a position of power. Really though, we’re not talking about a mom and pop shop here, we’re talking about multimillion dollar a year or even billion dollar a year companies that if they really lost 40% of their profits, they’re still making more than most.
    I worked at Jive Records ten years ago during the height of the “boy band” craze… It was ridiculous the money and resources that company spent on needless things. They’d charge customers $15-$20 a CD, yet night after night they’d chuck tons of them in the garbage like it was nothing. The majors are just upset that they can’t make as much money off of music sold as they used to, but don’t let them fool you into thinking they aren’t still making money.

  4. I think piracy is a give and take in that it shows people are so, so moved to consume music that they will go through any means necessary to get their hands on it. I mean, money is just money, music’s been around forever.

  5. The game has changed, the Old Guard (rep’d by the RIAA, labels, and “establishment” entertainment companies) still has enough cash in their coffers to buy DC influence and whine about “piracy” (to the tune of how many millions paid to lobbyists.) Who’s the pirate here, the kid who can’t find media the labels put out of circulation or the scoundrel who buys off the legislators to rig the system so they can reclaim their gatekeeper status?
    The funny thing is that all kinds of “unsigned” entertainers are finding paying customers in numbers I’ve never seen before – it just looks really different. Look at crowdsourced funding for music and video projects… (I happen to know of six bands in my city alone that have raised more money in the last six months than they EVER would have made from a label in their first year or two under contract!) In many cases it’s replaced the “pre-sale” model. People WILL and DO pay for media they believe in, something they believe has value.
    Perhaps the real “piracy” is that major media companies have been playing their customers as suckers for so long – charging top dollar for crap – that their customers have beat them at their own game; the customer feels no need to pay for what has zero value.

  6. David you are making a legitimate argument against music piracy and the people who knowingly engage in the practice. Don’t know if you have any proposal or ideas on how it can be stopped, but piracy seems to be part of the new paradigm ushered in with the advent and ever growing popularity of the World Wide Web.
    I do not condone piracy, I support and applaud any effort by musicians to protect their creative works and maximize any derived benefits. However, eliminating the practice of online piracy in general, might not be an achievable objective any time soon unless some new smart technology emerge to aid in the Endeavour.
    Until we get to that stage, I agree with Drew, he summed it up brilliantly in my opinion. “The game has changed.” That’s the truth and the new reality that many are still having a hard time accepting and adjusting too! The internet leveled the playing field for all and changed the rules that the main stream music industry played by, for ever.

  7. There’s about 90% of my music collection that I wish I had gotten for free. The other 10% I wish I could pay the artists more than I have so far.
    It’s strange that while a collection of songs is something you discover and enjoy (or not) over time, you’re expected to pay once, and pretty much the same price for all of it.
    Maybe that made sense when the media support for that music was a piece of shrink-wrapped plastic, but it makes less and less sense today.
    The price tag needs to move from the “music product” to the “enjoyment of music”.
    Piracy is just a symptom. You can fight the symptom, but it’s usually better to find a cure for the disease.

  8. you’re right, it doesn’t cose me anything to rehearse, record and distribute my music.

  9. *cost
    That aside, I’m not sure I’d trust the figures reported by the RIAA, not sure I’d consider them an unbiased and trustworthy source on the issue

  10. People are to poor to buy your music yet they can afford a computer & the internet to download your music & upload it to their fancy new ipod….sucks being poor doesn’t it.

  11. The day that computers and ipods can easily be acquired for free and free wifi is available everywhere, people will be too poor for that as well, no worries.
    As an artist, what can you make/do that people have to pay YOU for in order to enjoy ? Right now you’re right that’s it’s Apple and Comcast that own the tollbooths, and it sucks. We need to think of new, better tollbooths, not try to magically revive the old ones. (Because the highway as moved… the old ones are fast becoming useless).

  12. Perhaps tech companies are setting the market value so that consumers continue to consume/stream copyrighted material on their websites for free as well as the bandwidth to make it happen.

  13. THIS IS THE INTERNET YOU CANT PROTECT ANYTHING , EITHER LIVE WITH IT , OR KEEP YOUR MUSIC OFF THE INTERNET , THERES ALWAYS WAYS TO ACCESS A FILE ON THE NET , THATS JUST THE WAY INTERNET WORKS , NO MATTER HOW MUCH SECURITY THERE IS YOU CANNOT STOP SOMEONE FROM ACCESSING IT , EITHER THAT OR SHUT THE INTERNET DOWN , THE GOVERNMENT HAS NO INTEREST IN STOPPING PIRACY THEY JUST WANT TO MAKE MONEY AND FIND WAYS TO CONTROL WHAT WE VIEW AND DO ON THE INTERNET , THE GOVERNMENT SHOULD SORT OUT THE REAL PROBLEMS , ALL THESE BLAH BLAH ABOUT JOBS WHAT REAL PROOF IS THERE THAT ITS TRUE , GOVERNMENT COULDNT CREATE JOBS BUT THEY FIND WAYS TO BLAME THE INTERNET FOR JOB LOSSES , INTERNET CREATED JOBS , DONT EVER BELIEVE WHAT THE GOVERNMENT TELLS YOU , YES PEOPLE CAN AFFORD MP3 PLAYERS AND A PC , THAT DOESNT MEAN THEY ARE RICH , A USED PC CAN BE BOUGHT UNDER 100 DOLLAR AN MP3 COST UNDER 10 DOLLARS ON EBAY , THAT MAKES YOU RICH DOES IT? STUPID PEOPLE USE STUPID NONSENSE TO BACK THEIR CASE .. JIM YOU ARE AN ASSHOLE.. YOU ARE THOSE TYPE OF PEOPLE WHO JUST COMMENT WITHOUT ANY REAL TALK.. GO BACK TO YOUR OLD WIFE

  14. You can rationalize piracy all you want, but stealing is stealing. Because you believe labels, movie studios etc. are making too much money, this is your rationalization? McDonalds makes 5 times as much as the entire music industry. 4 times as much profit. Are you jumping over the counter and stealing burgers? Well consider this, Apple’s gross profit last year was more then the entire music industry combined – worldwide! They have 40 billion dollars in their bank account. They charge a premium price for a product that if it’s retail price were cut in half, they would still profit handsomely. Also, they support 800,000 jobs in China (according to Mr. Jobs book), which further accounts for their tremendous profit margin. So to summarize, they grossly overcharge for their product – hundreds of dollars. They outsource American jobs overseas (at least 100,000 associated jobs can potentially be brought back to these shores). They only pay 16% in corporate tax. Now isn’t that greed? Yet you’re not out there stealing Apple computers are you? The music industry and studios support American jobs – office, manufacturing and shipping. They invest in artists. Nobody talks about the fact 95% of all signed label artists don’t succeed and lose money for the labels. 95% of all movies tank, yet everyone, the entire cast and crew involved get paid on unsuccessful films too. What do you think drives the economic engine to sign new artists and make new films? The purpose of business is to make a profit. What about all the independent labels struggling to survive? This notion that it’s the Internet so it’s a different set of rules, is more simpleton rationalization. All it has done, is made it easier for people to steal. Why should the Internet be the only industry unregulated? Maybe the drug industry should go unregulated? What about the food industry? These businesses create jobs too, why shouldn’t they enjoy the same unregulated freedoms as the Tech giants? You think the guys at Google, Facebook, Youtube etc. are altruistic? Aren’t they trying to be billionaires – part of the 1%? Of course they are. You’re drinking their PR Kool Aid kiddies. Youtube and Google are aware, if pirated material leaves their system, less clicks, less ads, less profits. Wall Street, Silicon Valley no difference my friend. Obama’s support went to Silicon valley on SOPA, because they’re spending big on his reelection campaign. My guess is most of you are college students hiding out until mommmy and daddy kick you out of the house. Get into the real world, then you’ll understand what capitalism means and how it works. While you’ll struggling to pay for your second hand car, the Zuckerbergs of the world will be laughing all the way to the bank on your naivete. I’m curious everyone who has commented, what do you do for a living? What are you making a year? What’s your age? Have you ever really worked in the entertainment industry and made over $10,000.00 a year. Besides the intern for Jive who never learned the difference between retail price and wholesale price (I guess your internship was a waste), what contributions have you all made to this industry?

  15. Most artist’s, band’s, musicians suffer more from the lack of exposure. No one listens to the radio anymore – major label ‘pay to play’ killed it. Then they wanted fees from mechanics and dentists if the public could hear the radio in the background. Is that what they want to do to the internt too?
    I think so. There is so much new music and new bands out right now that I can’t begin to keep track of them all. Nothing I like has appeared on Billboard’s top list for years.
    So how am I suppossed to know what I like or not? Every single track that I have bought from a 30 second sample I’ve ended up deleting. That’s a lousey way to buy music.
    It really is time for labels to figure out what customers want and start giving it to them. When people pay $300-$600 for phones and music players – the issue is NOT money.
    I don’t like the crap Hollywood dishes out. I have no idea who listens to brittany spears, etc.
    All this fuss over ‘cyber-lockers’ because they are making money doing what Hollywood says it can’t – making money off other peoples efforts – what are the major labels doing?
    They make money off other people’s efforts too.

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