Music Labels Winning Filesharing "War"?

One headline reads: "Music labels claim victory over pirates." Well, that was a quick battle! Is that all there is, then? In the UK, at least? It's over? Well, yesterday, the BPI, which represents the UK's major music labels, claimed it was winning the war against unauthorized filesharing. Their proof? So far this year, there have already been more than 10 million music sales through authorized channels, more than twice the number for all of 2004. Hey, if that's all it takes to convince the British record industry that authorized filesharing has "won," let's not quibble.

If we were going to quibble -- which we're not! -- we might point out that the average number of simultaneous users on P2P networks increased 2.6% from May to June, increased 20.1% since the this time last year, and that the level of users is now twice what it was in September 2003 when the RIAA began suing people for allegedly sharing files.

Okay, the BPI, did acknowledge that it isn't completely over. The spin was: "The battle against illegal filesharing will continue, but we are delighted to have hit this milestone so soon." They also claimed that "growth in legal downloads was already outstripping the growth in illegal filesharing" and they wouldn't say that unless they knew it was definitely true. They wouldn't want to risk bragging about something that turned out to be wrong and thus wind up looking silly. I feel ridiculous for not thinking of that earlier.

mp3:Self - What a Fool Believes

mp3:Oasis - Cum On Feel the Noize

Linkage: The "Downloading Communism" image is from the folks at Modern Humorist and if you like, you can buy it in handy t-shirt form or on a jersey, mousepad, poster, or tote bag at their CafePress store. 'Cause buying stuff is always super-trendy, and it need not be restricted to songs. Clothes and posters are good too.