From an article at inquirer.net( http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=12515 ), it is stated "A RESEARCH ORGANISATION claimed that it was likely that over a million US households cleaned their disks of music files." So, according to that, people have just been deleting those MP3s from their drives like crazy. The research group, the NPD Group. in their survey , they also "....showed that people's opinion of the music industry has never been lower."

They further state that :
"The number of US households getting digital music using peer to peer sharing fell by 11 per cent between August and September, the organisation claimed. And the number of music files downloaded fell by nine per cent.

The survey showed that the lawsuits initiated by the RIAA against consumers had persuaded two out of three consumers that they had a "much more" or "somewhat more" negative opinion of record companies. And that's not just people who download music – 40 per cent of people who hadn't downloaded music felt the same."

This poll was taken of around 40,000 online panel members.

So, from this we can see that the actions of the RIAA are, apparently turning a lot of people off, and this ultimately, will translate into decreased sales, layoffs, and decreased profits to the big labels, from whence the RIAA derives it money.

So, yeah, they might think they are winning a battle, but they seem to be losing the war.

~CodeWarrior

dang I wish I had my buisness law book. I think that they did like 5 illegal things that were listed there.

Code,

I just read about this in the Wall Street Journal today (Page D4, Wed Nov 5).

There is a very important part of this story which may not have made it in the Inquirer article. So I will quote part of the 2nd paragraph from the WSJ article:

" NPD Group Inc., Port Washington, N.Y. based its estimate on an outgoing project that uses special software to monitor the computer activities of 10,000 volunteer households. The number of households that erased the files represents 4% of the 35 million households the firm estimates store digital music on their PCs. "

The article goes on to say that "The majority of the households that erased their music files had fewer than 50 files stored on their PCs - far below the 1,000 song threshold the RIAA has so far used in deciding whom to target with its lawsuits."

So ..... these files were being erased by folks who were having their computer activities MONITORED. I'll bet their behavior would have been quite different if their computer was not being monitored.

Therefore, I would not consider this extrapolation to be valid.

shooting themselves in the feet and wondering why it bleeds... interesting business model I can't wait to see how it works out

Man Bufo...that does change the complexion of the story...all I has was the Inquirer piece...thanks for the input!

they think this is the way to go? When you get so many people angry at you who don't even download where do they think it's going to lead. I haven't seen any figures yet this second half of this year but if their sales keep slumping (unless they doctor the numbers which I wouldn't put it past them) and downloading decreases by 11% that kinda shoots a hole in their argument that downloading leads to lost sales

yea, and when cd sales and p2p useage CONTINUE to drop i wonder who they're going to blame then...their cookie-cutter "artists" perhaps?
peace
~iscariot

lol you beat me to the post, compmore...

How is p2p usage dropping....there was 4.5 million ppl on kazaa this afternoon. lol
This is probably just a way to make their supporters happy so they can continue their crusade against the world.

Here's a link to the actual press release.

http://www.npd.com/press/releases/press_031105.htm

"In August 1.4 million households deleted all the digital music files saved on their PC hard drives."

Here's a point of view I'm sure the researchers missed. Even overlooking the fact that these people were being monitored, this survey doesn't seem to take into consideration the reason why people emptied their hard drive.

I took all of the major label music off of my hard drive. I wasn't sharing it. I bought it, and I was listening to it.

Not any more.

It wasn't fear that made me erase the music from the major labels, it was anger. Hey, if they don't want me to listen to their music, fine. I won't listen to it.

Not even the stuff I bought before I found out who the RIAA was and how they work.

Methodology Note: NPD MusicWatch Digital information is collected continuously from the PCs of 40,000 volunteer online panelists, balanced to represent the online population of PC users. NPD’s MusicLab survey was fielded in September of 2003 to a representative sample of 5,000 respondents aged 13 and older.

great points George (as always)...

"...claimed that it was likely that over a million US households cleaned their disks of music files"

A real shame that. Almost reminds me of book burning.

Well the Riaa has managed to PISS OFF a whole lot of people at least a MILLION or so lets hope they keep on doing it!!! It will make this org. JOB a lot easier!!!

gdZ,

Thanks for the press release link.

This had some additional good info which was not present in either the WSJ or the inquirer.

As Code alluded to, it is amazing how the 'spin' on a story can change depending on what information is included - or not included.

I still file share like crazy. I see this as an act of civil disobedience and if the RIAA and or the government doesn't like it they can eat me. Besides, I figure that I would have a greater chance of being struck by lighting than sued by the RIAA... MP3 4 Life RIAA!

BTW I used to buy CD's all the time but since the RIAA started sueing people I don't buy them anymore.... Cya in Hell RIAA!!!

If people are actually erasing their mp3s then they are cowards. I'm still increasing my collection. Most are not the riaa crap anyways. Some of my NuMetal are from riaa, 2 Progressive Metal Bands, and 1 Death Metal Band(...I think). My total of riaa songs are well below the 1,000 mark.

BTW, why would anyone let someone else "monitor" their computers? I've got Firewalls up the yingyang! :^)~

6,403 mp3s and counting! See you on Kazaa!

I wonder how this purported 'wiping' of songs off of hard drives might correlate with, for example, the purchase of blank CD's and external backup hard drives... I'm sure most of the folks who disgorged their digital harvest had a backup.

I didn't wipe my hard drive, my system crashed. (damn cheap cpu fan.) I guess it works out about the same huh?

im not erasing one meg of music

I stopped downloading RIAA stuff not out of fear (I'm in Canada) but I will not let them count me as one of the "pirates". I will continue to download and buy from indies - after checking them on the useful RIAA Radar. I burned what I had on my PC simply because I routinely reformat my hard drive.

I USED TO BUY AN AVERAGE OF $100 WORTH OF MUSIC A MONTH DURING THE DAYS OF NAPSTER AND AUDIOGALAXY.

NOW I BUY NONE.

Welcome, JacB and other new posters.. if you buy indie, you are getting it.. boycott Riaa crack-music that makes you a potential criminal.. buy used and indie and don't download anymore Riaa garbage..