Another fiscal quarter, another 500 online music consumers sued. The Recording Industry Association of America announced it has sued 493 people for infringing copyrights when they illegally downloaded songs from the Internet.
This brings the total to close to 3,000 people sued by the group since September, when it first took off the gloves to combat this worrisome -- to the industry, that is -- trend.

Why are they doing it? Clearly, not for financial gain. The RIAA reportedly has settled some 486 cases at an average of US$3,000 each. Through the legal actions, the association is hoping to stem the overwhelming tide of people who have gone online to procure music instead of buying a CD or patronizing a legitimate music Web site. But surveys and studies conflict as to whether this strategy is effective.

Empirical Evidence

For example, a recent study from Pew Internet & American Life Project shows that file-sharing, while still popular and growing, has declined since the RIAA first started warning people they could be sued.



However, even though the RIAA might be winning the battle, it almost certainly is losing the war.

Another poll -- taken between April 14th and April 20th by Harris Interactive and commissioned by the Business Software Alliance -- found that more than half of the children and teenagers involved in downloading music for free are continuing the practice, even though they know they are breaking the law. Indeed, their primary concern was not that they were breaking the law, but that they might be downloading viruses, the survey found.

Viruses Feared More Than Lawsuits

In short, the lawsuits are almost useless, says Eric Garland, CEO of BigChampagne , a firm that tracks the most popular online downloads. "Lawsuits are a dead end. After the RIAA filed the first lawsuit, file-sharing, in fact, exploded, he told NewsFactor. "It prompted a lot of articles about file-sharing in general and gave consumers -- basically -- a road map to these sites."

As for the threat of being sued, he says, many people are placing odds that it will not happen to them. And chances are good that it won't, he says. "With the millions of people online using these sites, even if the RIAA sued 500 people every few months for the rest of our lives, that is still a drop in the bucket."
http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/24202.html

In short, the lawsuits are almost useless, says Eric Garland, CEO of BigChampagne , a firm that tracks the most popular online downloads. "Lawsuits are a dead end. After the RIAA filed the first lawsuit, file-sharing, in fact, exploded, he told NewsFactor. "It prompted a lot of articles about file-sharing in general and gave consumers -- basically -- a road map to these sites."

They should also add that those 3000 that were sued, will no longer be customers either.....so a lot of good it did them. Sure.....sue your customers then expect them to buy from you with big smiles on their faces? I think NOT!

One thing good is coming out of the Riaa lawsuits, go to your local park and ask the kids playing in the park, be sure to ask a age span like 7 to 15 years, they are the next generations that will be buying music, and ask what they think of the RIAA, it will make your ears hurt, RIAA is assisting in their own destruction through the people who should be their future.

yea

Exactly as I predicted. Fairly obvious of course. The RIAA is now unpopular, the lawsuits having minimal effect, and the p2p community is slowly but surely finding ways to complicate the traceing.