A Critical Look at RIAA Statistics

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Tim O'Reilly
Dec. 18, 2002 09:44 PM
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In RIAA Statistics Don't Add Up to Piracy, George Ziemann of Mac Wizards Music takes an analytical look at the RIAA's reported statistics on the impact of file sharing. And what he comes up with is enlightening.

Yes, CD unit shipments were down 10% in 2001. But in terms of revenue per title, 2000 was the best year in industry history. In both 2000 and 2001, there were fewer new CDs released than in any year since 1993, and revenues per title were WAY up (to over $500,000 per title, from a decade-long average around $400,000.)

George's tabular rendition of the unit and dollar sales for the RIAA over the past decade, taken from the RIAA web site, is a great resource for those interested in judging the RIAA's piracy arguments for themselves.

Tim O'Reilly is the founder and CEO of O'Reilly Media, Inc., thought by many to be the best computer book publisher in the world. In addition to Foo Camps ("Friends of O'Reilly" Camps, which gave rise to the "un-conference" movement), O'Reilly Media also hosts conferences on technology topics, including the Web 2.0 Summit, the Web 2.0 Expo, the O'Reilly Open Source Convention, the Gov 2.0 Summit, and the Gov 2.0 Expo. Tim's blog, the O'Reilly Radar, "watches the alpha geeks" to determine emerging technology trends, and serves as a platform for advocacy about issues of importance to the technical community. Tim's long-term vision for his company is to change the world by spreading the knowledge of innovators. In addition to O'Reilly Media, Tim is a founder of Safari Books Online, a pioneering subscription service for accessing books online, and O'Reilly AlphaTech Ventures, an early-stage venture firm.

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