Interesting thing to note: if CD prices had fallen at the rate of other luxury goods in the same sort of bracket, you'd be able to buy a new album for $8 today. The RIAA kept prices artificially inflated because they saw it as a really fast way to make money. Music profits have been up year on year for the last 15 years, but now have taken a dip - along with every other commodity on the market - due to the economic slowdown of the last couple of years. Second interesting thing to note: CD sales dropped faster in the weeks after the RIAA announced it was going to satrt suing shares than at any other tim ein the last 3 years, but sales had been rising with the general upward trend of the conomy. Overall, the RIAA took only a 10% hit in actual sales, despite reduing the number of new acts, and keeping prices high, and also despite the "fact" that sharing had somehow caused people to stop buying anything. Most other luxury goods took a >30% drop. A lot of companies in the IT sector nearly died last year yet the RIAA, making higher profits than at any time in its history, likes to complain that it's the end of the music industry. Just like they did with cassette tapes, and just like their predecessors did with the invention of the 78 and the Edison Phonograph.
|
