Digital Home Thoughts: You Mean the RIAA isn't Telling the Whole Truth?

Apparently Soundscan, the Nielsen tracking firm that looks at actual sales of CDs, is reporting that sales of CDs have actually increased in 2004 over the same period in 2003. This would go against the RIAA's claim that sales are down. So what is the story?

Well sales are up. Soundscan reports what is actually sold in stores so their numbers are accurate. During the first quarter of 2003 Soundscan registered 147 million records sold, for the 1st quarter of 2004 Soundscan will report 160 million records sold, a 10% increase. RIAA is reporting that their shipments are down (7.1%) from 2003, not that sales are down. So when the RIAA claims that downloads are hurting their sales, they are not exactly telling the truth. My guess is that when you enter Tower Records, you no longer are seeing 1,000 copies of Alanis Morissette (yea, figured I'd plug a Canadian) behind the register, just the 10 copies that they sell a day. We hear plenty of FUD these days and it appears we now have confirmation of what we all assumed.

Not only are sales up in retail stores, they also have the revenue from online sales from iTunes and others. Don't feel sorry for the RIAA (I'm sure you weren't kept up at night worrying about it), they are bigger and stronger then they ever have been and now have the U.S. Congress on their side. It's a good day to be a Compact Disc Salesman!