Quote:
Australian Music Industry Has Record Sales Year
March 29, 2004
Thomas Mennecke
The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) has taken a similar path to its American brethren, the RIAA. Convinced that file-sharing and CD copying is evil, the ARIA has been actively pursuing Australian based Sharman Networks (owners of Kazaa). Although the industry has not yet declared war against it own customers, it has directly blamed P2P networking for the apparent decline of music sales.
"Apparent" is the key word mind you. Many global music industries, such as the Australian, American and British, have clamored that file-sharing has crippled music sales. However, many critics have questioned whether P2P is to blame, as alternative explanations such as a global economic recession, is more plausible. Interestingly, as the global economy has improved, so have music sales. Oddly enough, despite the increased music sales, file-sharing activity has stood its ground.
While the American music industry is recovering, the Australian music industry enjoyed its best year ever in 2003. However, The Sydney Morning Herald points out that the ARIA's press release, "Music DVD continues its rise whilst CD singles slide further" lacks this one piece of key information. The Herald continues to state that a savvy finance reporter, SBS's Peter Martin, discovered that CD sales topped 50 million copies in 2003. In addition, total sales (all formats) were 65.6 million. This value is well over the 63.9 million sales in 2001.
So, has file-sharing hurt the Australian music industry? The evidence appears to say "no", as Sydney Morning Herald points out that in 1998, a year before the Napster revolution, CD sales were a paltry 39.6 million units.
When looking at the ARIA press release, it fails to mention that 2003 was a record sales year. The ARIA instead discusses that the CD single, an out dated and antiquated relic, suffered a 16.57% decline in unit sales and 23.90% decline in dollar value in 2003.
Many agree that the CD single may have its days numbered, as the Internet has largely replaced the need for this entity. Whether you prefer P2P or "legitimate" sources, it seems bizarre to spend at least 5 dollars for a single when its available online for a maximum of 99 cents.