Speaking of the RIAA, you may have seen on Friday that they released their 2005 sales figures on Friday, claiming that this was the worst year on record for the music industry. While gleefully bragging that their measures to sue elderly grandmothers and eleven year old girls has “held piracy” in check, the RIAA was quick to warn that little punks like Cassi Hunt were the real villains who had prevented the execs from trading up their Ferraris this year; “the distribution of music through internal networks on college campuses, remained ‘major factors’ in the industry’s declining sales.”

Anyway, as you might expect, the RIAA numbers aren’t quite as bleak as they sound. The Long Tail blog has a look up at the figures, pointing out that since more sales were made this year through digital distribution than ever before, 2005 was likely more profitable for the Record Industry than 2004. They point to Warner Music Group as proof.

Of course, everyone already knew their numbers are bullshit — the RIAA has a very transparent agenda here. They want to appear to be an industry teetering on the brink of extinction, so the Government will pass measures to protect their completely obsolete business model. It’s hard to feel sorry for bullies like this, especially when a business model that fully understood the possibilities and advantages of file sharing would probably net them record earnings within a couple years.

Music Industry: Is digital making up the difference? [Long Tail]

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