File sharing wins again!

Here’s the score: File sharing 2, RIAA 0
In a study published in the Journal of Political Economy, authors Felix Oberholzer-Gee and Koleman Strumpf say file sharing has had almost no effect on CD sales, despite RIAA and IFPI claims that it has.
This is, of course, no surprise to all of us who have been following the file-sharing saga since the turn of the century when Napster became the online public enemy No. 1.
There is no doubt that music sales have gone down. But file sharing isn’t the cause, and it never has been. The truth is, most people who share music weren’t in the market to buy the music in the first place.
File sharing is no different than making a friend a mixed tape—or as I like to refer to it, early file sharing. You made your friends a tape of music so they could hear what kind of music you liked. If they liked it, they headed down to Musicland and bought it for themselves. If they didn’t, you never mentioned it again.
That’s all file sharing is.
Early studies of file sharers showed that almost 90 percent of people who downloaded music through services like Napster ultimately deleted the songs. Most people listened to the song they downloaded to find out if they liked it. If they did, they bought it. If the didn’t—bye, bye, bye.
This most recent study showed that illegal downloads have, “an effect on sales that is statistically indistinguishable from zero,” which is a lot different than the RIAA’s stance that music downloads are killing the industry.
The study did offer up a real reason for the decline— stores have been reducing their stock. That makes sense; especially since record store chains have been dying faster than flies on the windscreen. The study also pointed out that shoppers might have turned their focus to buying DVDs instead of CDs, which also seens rational since many movies can be purchased for half of what the average CD costs.
But I think the study is glossing over the obvious. People aren’t buying music anymore because it sucks.
Music used to unify. If you were angry, you bought Ministry. If you were sad, you bought The Cure. If you wanted to dance you bought Cathy Dennis. And if you wanted to rock you bought Def Leppard (or Guns N Roses, but mostly Def Leppard).
Music has gone beyond commercial. To quote one of the biggest forces in pop music, American Idol, music is “useless, and I’m bored.”
The listeners haven’t changed. We still want good music, and we’re willing to pay for it. All the music industry has to do is get it out there on the market. But as long as they continue to force Fergalicious down our throats, it’s just not gonna happen.
But the RIAA has been intent on making file sharers criminals, saying they have robbed the industry of millions. That's a lie. This is the second study that has shown the music industry is inflating its numbers.
A November 2006 report by the Australian Institute of Criminology commissioned by the Australian Attorney General’s office concluded that industry statistics concerning financial loss due to piracy are “unverified and epistemologically unreliable” and that statistics used by the copyright holders are “absurd.” With evidence starting to pile up, I it may be time for someone to take a good, hard look at the industry and investigate the RIAA. The organization's bully tactics are beginning to look downright criminal.