File-Sharing Is Good For Digital Music Sales

The RIAA and its international counterpart released their latest sales figures today, of course taking the opportunity to whine about flie-sharing and blame piracy for all their industry's woes. The IFPI says, though, digital music sales shot up 259% in the first half of 2005 over last year, with much of that coming from things like mobile phone ringtones. While the music industry pats itself on the back for initiatives like implementing copy protection that just annoys buyers and its continued aggressive legal strategy, it's really doubtful that file-sharing is on the wane. Every time the RIAA gets one site or service shut down, users just move on. So although the groups scream loudest about a slight overall decline in music sales, the fact of the matter is that digital music sales are increasing in spite of piracy, and thanks to sales of non-traditional content like phone ringtones. Now imagine what would happen to the music business if labels embraced this kind of innovation and proactively changed their business models, rather than just stumbling upon it.