[Infowarrior] - RIAA chief: "song-sharing contained now"

[Richard Forno]

...that's their newest position, for the moment.  I don't believe they're as
happy as they lead us to believe.....rf

RIAA chief says illegal song-sharing 'contained'
Posted 6/12/2006 10:34 PM ET
By Jefferson Graham, USA TODAY
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/services/2006-06-12-riaa_x.htm?csp=34

LOS ANGELES ‹ Nearly a year after the Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling
against online music file-sharing services, the CEO of the Recording
Industry Association of America says unauthorized song swapping has been
"contained."

"The problem has not been eliminated," says association CEO Mitch Bainwol.
"But we believe digital downloads have emerged into a growing, thriving
business, and file-trading is flat."

That's an optimistic view from an industry that saw its numbers slide to
near oblivion after the launch of the original Napster in 1999. CD sales
fell as much as 30%, and the RIAA pressed Congress and the courts for relief
against what it said was rampant piracy.

After the Supreme Court ruled that the services could be liable for piracy
by their users, the RIAA sent cease-and-desist letters to several firms.
Most ‹ including BearShare, WinMX and Grokster ‹ shut down. EDonkey and
others said they would switch to a licensed, paid model.

EDonkey, which along with BitTorrent is one of the most-used file-sharing
services, has yet to make the switch.

Even with Grokster and WinMX shut down, their software programs still exist.
Eric Garland, CEO of Internet measurement firm BigChampagne, says that more
people than ever are using file-sharing networks. "Nearly 10 million people
are online, swapping media, at any given time," he says. That May figure is
up from 8.7 million people in 2005, he says.

Garland says the RIAA has made some inroads. "They have removed the
profiteers from online piracy," he says. "They've also embarked on a very
successful education campaign. Kids now know about copyright, and the
consequences."

The RIAA has sued just over 18,000 individuals for sharing songs online,
with 4,500 settling for about $4,000 per case.

Album sales are still down ‹ about 3% this year. But Bainwol says digital
sales ‹ up 77% ‹ make up for the shortfall.

The wide availability of legitimate alternatives to file-sharing services
has helped wean computer users away, says Russ Crupnick, president of the
music group for market tracker NPD Group.

Apple's iTunes has sold more than 1 billion songs to consumers, and online
stores Rhapsody and Napster are gaining traction. Crupnick says digital
store purchases have "almost doubled" while file-sharing is flat among
computer users in 12,000 homes in an NPD survey.

Meanwhile, the RIAA is suing XM Satellite Radio, which introduced a portable
$399 player (from Pioneer and Samsung) that lets subscribers record songs.

Bainwol says he doesn't mind consumers acquiring songs on the device ‹ it's
just that XM hasn't licensed the songs for download.

"We love the technology and think it's cool, but if you want to be an iTunes
clone, you should pay for it," he says. XM has called the RIAA lawsuit a
"negotiating" tactic.

About 1.5 billion songs are available for free swapping at any given time on
file-sharing networks, says Garland, a mix of current hits and songs from
such artists as the Beatles and Led Zeppelin that have yet to be released to
the digital music stores.

That number is huge but hasn't grown substantially, while video piracy has.
"The music industry isn't seeing double-digit growth in piracy anymore, but
Hollywood is," Garland says.