RIAA v Nielsen FITE!
A companion to the ingenuous “oo downloads might be good for us” piece linked by Tom below, is an article from Kensei News earlier this month.
According to Soundscan, the service that Nielsen runs to measure actual Point of Sale purchases, there has been a 10% increase in music sales since last year (US stats). This seems to contradict RIAA president Cary Sherman’s “7% decrease in revenue since last year”!
The discrepancy arises from the RIAA only measuring SHIPPED units, not SOLD units. File sharing, rather than being the scapegoat for losses in revenue, is actually being “blamed” for fewer returns. Fewer returns?! Hallelujah! The HOLY GRAIL of consumer distribution. Lower percentage returns = more profitable product. Thank you file sharing! Or whatever the hell is causing all this.