The major recording labels want us to belive that sales are down because of Internet piracy.
They’re wrong.
Blogaritaville has the RIAA’s own numbers and tells the whole story. The numbers clearly indicate that the labels’ price-fixing collusion (as alleged by the FTC and 28 states’ Attorney Generals) drive a steady increase in unit costs resulting in lower overall sales. Conversely, when the big box retailers lowered prices, CD unit sales almost doubled. That growth slowed considerably when the labels instituted a “minimum advertised pricing” policy.
The moral of this story? Blame the labels’ greed, not Internet piracy. Last year—2001, the year the labels want to use as their poster child against piracy—was the year that saw the greatest average per-unit price increase since the alleged price-fixing began.
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