The free exchange of information on a global scale an inevitability. You can call file sharing 'stealing' all you want, it's just a subjective label. What holds actual relevance is that free exchange of information exists for most of the world and will only expand from here.

This sucks and is totally unfair for people who have built their careers in an outdated paradigm- but getting pissy and suing people, or trying to instate laws that regulate the flow of information, is akin to building your house in front of a dam that's already cracked plus the weather's reporting record setting storms starting tomorrow.

The music industry is obviously in a flux right now; the only certainty is that those who fight change and refuse to adapt will lose more and more until they cut their losses and rethink their approach.

Hello all. I usually just read the posts and never comment, but I can't help myself. I agree in most part that the music industry has some issues to resolve and that the major labels have created most of their own heart ache via standard / traditional business practices. However, this issue of piracy or information sharing (whichever you prefer), should not be a debate. I just don't understand how people can justify this behavior because everyone is doing it? You can't go to your local store and take whatever you want for free just because they gave you a sample, at least not without legal consequence. I think it boils down to greed, lack of ethics and culture. In our society, we have been conditioned to rebel against authority and consume things with no regard to others as long as there is a profit to be made.

I have several things I'd like to say...but this first post is one that I'd like to make specifically because we never really nail this one to the wall in any discussion. (Music industry people who aren't part of the majors that is)

Brand led marketing is a big problem here too. I think people are worn out on the majors banking on pushing a new artist for a couple of singles...while over saturating the radio and TV market with the same tiny play list. Clear Channel Broadcasting has a lot of answer for too. It's too expensive for indie artists to break into, and the exposure is great...but it's also so expensive that people are growing bored with the lack of diverse content. They're losing listeners. Hell they lost me almost ten years ago. But now they're numbers are way down.

You can complain about file sharing all you want. But it's not like the songs people are stealing are genius. It's all calculated pop formulas that have been overused to an extent that most top 40 singles resemble nursery rhymes more than songs. The American consumer is being told that he / she is too stupid to like anything different, and they've grown tired of being treated like idiots. I think the buying public is smarter than that, and wants new technology and mass media merging into to cool new forms of entertainment that feature music. I think that great bands landing TV and film soundtrack work have been huge for digital download sales on ITunes and the like because of this. I'm sorry that an American Idol winner can't be the voice of a generation, but that involves actually nurturing musical genius from time to time.

Jeff / Derek -
I was wondering if CD Baby & Tunecore report sales to the RIAA for their mid-year and year end "U.S. Manufacturers' Unit Shipments and Value Charts" - RIAA

If not - I'm wondering if you have ever contacted them regarding this as I believe (unless I'm mistaken) that they are interested in having the most accurate figures available that they can (which would hopefully mean more accurate reporting of independents).

Best regards,
Steve Berson

All I can say is wait 'til the bandwidth can support widespread and quick downloading of movies, wait and see what the MPAA will do.

Also everyone I knew who had a thriving independent label is now done except one. From my perspective indie music is not well at all. Major label satellites not included.

I'm sorry but this argument is not valid . If it was, the songs shared illegaly would be different than the hits but they are not . People download the hits more than anything else . The more you sell the more you're pirated .

And about information being shared ,I don't consider music as information but as a product like movies . It shouldn't be treated as free information .

Not at all, no.

CD Baby reports all sales from our store (cdbaby.com) to SoundScan, but I think all sales reporting is the responsibility of the store, not the distributor. (So, iTunes is probably reporting their sales to SoundScan, etc.)

I think the RIAA gathers info from SoundScan. I had never heard of the RIAA chart you're mentioning, but since the RIAA is just a coalition of the big labels I don't see why I should be reporting my sales to them, or speaking to them in any way.