Slagging Over Sagging CD Sales

["Hamaker, Chuck" <cahamake@email.uncc.edu>]

http://www.wired.com/news/mp3/0,1285,51880,00.html
Slagging Over Sagging CD Sales
By Brad King

WIRED
2:00 a.m. April 17, 2002 PDT

Digital piracy caused a drop in worldwide record sales, according to a
report conducted by a trade association that represents the biggest record
companies in the world.

But an increasing chorus of industry watchers -- ranging from musicians to
consumer rights organizations to a federal judge -- point to other
culprits: the record labels themselves.

snip

"I would suggest that the labels have lost touch with their customers and
that retail stores don't work as a destination," said Dave Allen, a
founding member of the band Gang of Four
<http://www.emdac.demon.co.uk/phil/gof/gof_indx.html>. "The industry has
managed to disenfranchise at least two generations of CD buyers; and kids
these days who do buy CDs turn around and burn multiple copies for their
buddies."

snip

Many feel the music industry is using the lag in CD sales to push for
restrictive measures that would ultimately give big business control over
how consumers can listen, watch and store their digital media

Article identified in Olga Francois, "In the News" DIGITAL-COPYRIGHT Digest
72