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Chances are that you've downloaded at least a track or two from the Net and you may have even burnt some of it to a CD for use on your stereo.

Does this make you a thief?

No, despite the claims of the recording industry, it doesn't -- it makes you a copyright infringer, which is a different beast entirely.

Quite frankly I'm getting awfully annoyed at the way the recording industry continues to accuse net users of being a new type of criminal underclass because they trade in copyrighted music files.

No, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that we should all be allowed thumb our noses at copyright laws but I do think the recording industry needs to take a deep breath and decide whether they're actually gaining anything by taking their current "sue the customer" attitude to the problem.

The big problem with the industry's approach to unauthorised copying right now is that it's so fragmented and contradictory as to make them a laughing stock. The following is taken from the industry's own report on music sales during the 2003 year.

On the one hand they claim "Internet piracy remains a very significant factor in the decline in world music sales" yet they also claim that "online sales of physical CDs also continued an upward trend".

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Are you confused by these two statements?

Net users are buying more CDs than ever before -- but hang on, these are the very group that were, just a few sentences previously, accused of being responsible for the industry's woes.

But wait, there's more. The same report claims that "US-based services achieved downloads of 19.2 million in the second half of 2003" -- but why would net-users, the very people who are reportedly "stealing" music in unprecedented volumes, actually bother to pay for legitimate downloads?

The industry also claims that music DVDs are one of the growth areas and acknowledges that increased sales here are helping offset the reduction in CD sales. Gosh, could it be that the industry's losses are *not* due to people illegally downloading music so much as a simple shift in the preferred format for the delivery of that music?

If people are opting to legally download their music from authorised online services or buy DVDs rather than CDs then it's only natural that the sales of those CDs are going to decline -- isn't it?

And finally, if we're going to be examining where the finger of blame is pointed, maybe we, as Australasians, should pat ourselves on the back. It seems that our region "was the only region to show growth in 2003".

All this information, published by the industry itself, clearly indicates that the public and legislators are perhaps deliberately being misinformed about the true nature of changes in the music marketplace.

The tired old CD is rapidly passing its best-by date and consumers now prefer to buy their music in downloadable form or on DVD.

It is clear that the industry is bent on unreasonably misrepresenting this information in order to try and extort more money from the public, often with the help of easily bribed or fooled governments.

With reviews of NZ's copyright laws in the wings, let's hope our government sides with consumers and isn't duped by this silly spin from an industry that seems to think it has a God-given right to profiteer.

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