Thanks for being interested in the music industry and our positions on various issues. We get many requests from students and others for information for papers and other research needs. We’re happy to help and share our perspective. Unfortunately, we can’t always answer every question. So below is a list of commonly asked questions and hopefully insightful answers. Please take a look. We hope you find it useful and informative. Good luck!

Q:  What exactly does the RIAA do? Who does the organization represent?

The RIAA is an organization committed to helping the music business thrive. Our goal is to foster a business and legal climate that protects the ability of our members – the record companies that create, manufacture and/or distribute some 85 percent of all legitimate sound recordings produced and sold in the United States – to invest in the next generation of music.

In support of this mission, we work to protect intellectual property rights worldwide and the First Amendment rights of artists; conduct consumer, industry and technical research; and monitor and review state and federal laws, regulations and policies. We also certify Gold, Platinum, Multi-Platinum™, and Diamond sales awards, as well as Los Premios De Oro y Platino™, an award celebrating Latin music sales.

Q:  What is the RIAA's official stance on digital music piracy?

Plain and simple: piracy is bad news. While the term is commonly used, “piracy” doesn’t even begin to describe what is taking place. When you go online and download songs without permission, you are stealing. The illegal downloading of music is just as wrong as shoplifting from a local convenience store – and the impact on those who create music and bring it to fans is equally devastating. For every artist you can name at the top of the Billboard music charts, there is a long line of songwriters, sound engineers, and label employees who help create those hits. They all feel the pain of music theft.

The law is quite clear here, and fortunately legal downloading is easy and doesn’t cost much. Record companies have licensed hundreds of digital partners offering download and subscription services, cable and satellite radio services, Internet radio webcasting, legitimate peer-to-peer (P2P) services, social networking services, video-on-demand, podcasts, CD kiosks and digital jukeboxes, mobile products such as ringbacks, ringtunes, wallpapers, audio and video downloads and more.  In fact, according to the global music trade body IFPI, there are now more than ten million licensed tracks available on more than 400 different services worldwide.  That’s great news for music fans and the industry alike.

Q:  How much money does the recording industry lose from piracy?

There are two categories to consider here: losses from street piracy – the manufacture and sale of counterfeit CDs – and losses from online piracy.

One credible analysis by the Institute for Policy Innovation concludes that global music piracy causes $12.5 billion of economic losses every year, 71,060 U.S. jobs lost, a loss of $2.7 billion in workers' earnings, and a loss of $422 million in tax revenues, $291 million in personal income tax and $131 million in lost corporate income and production taxes. For copies of the report, please visit www.ipi.org.

As you can imagine, calculating loses for online piracy is a difficult task. We do know that the pirate marketplace currently far dwarfs the legal marketplace, and when that happens, that means investment in new music is compromised.

All the same, it’s important to note that across the board, piracy is a very real threat to the livelihoods of not only artists and record label employees but also thousands of less celebrated people in the music industry – from sound engineers and technicians to warehouse workers and record store clerks. Piracy undermines the future of music by depriving the industry of the resources it needs to find and develop new talent and drains millions of dollars in tax revenue from local communities and their residents.

Q:  Has the RIAA stopped filing lawsuits against individuals?

In light of new opportunities to deter copyright infringement, the record industry was able to discontinue its broad-based end user litigation program.  The step was made possible, in large part, by continued work with the Attorney General of New York and leading Internet Service Providers (ISPs) on a series of voluntary online anti-piracy initiatives.  On a parallel track, we have been able to reach a separate agreement in principle with several leading ISPs on a graduated response program for repeat offenders when they are caught engaging in illegal activity online.

Importantly, the end of the litigation program was also made possible through the dramatic changes in the music marketplace over the past five years.  Today, there is legal clarity about what users can and can’t do on peer to peer networks, which has contributed to a vibrant and rapidly growing digital marketplace. 

Q:  What would the RIAA like people to know about the lawsuit program now that it has ended?

The program was designed to educate fans about the law, the consequences of breaking the law, and raise awareness about all the great legal sites in the music marketplace.  Like any tough decision, there are trade offs.  On balance, the legal marketplace is far better off because of the program: 

1) Educational Impact:  Awareness of the illegality of downloading without permission surged from 35 – 72 percent following/during the initiation of the program.

2) Digital Marketplace Surges:  Digital revenues have grown from nearly $200 million in ‘04 to $2.3 billion in ‘07 (estimates for ‘08 - $3 billion), accounting for 25 percent of all retail value revenue (upwards of 30 percent at end of ’08).   

3) Illicit P2P Growth Constrained But Still Major Problem:  Prior to the campaign, illegal p2p music trading was growing exponentially.  Since 2004, the percentage of Internet-connected households that have downloaded music from p2p is essentially flat (NPD).

Q:  What is your strategy with colleges now that you are no longer sending pre-litigation letters?

That process has not sufficiently changed beyond ceasing to file new lawsuits. We have always employed a multi-faceted approach when it comes to universities, which includes educational programs (such as the campus downloading DVD available at campusdownloading.com, participation in school speaker forums and other forms of outreach; working directly with schools through our involvement in the Joint Committee of the Higher Education and Entertainment Communities; and sending DMCA notices upon detection of illegal file-sharing activity on campus networks.  We continue to be proactive in all these ways.  Over the course of the past couple of years, as the technology to detect online theft has improved, we have sent an increased number of notices to universities. With this agreement with the commercial ISPs, we are now repeating this exercise.

To their credit, schools have for years responded to the copyright notices we send by forwarding them to their students. Most colleges have also implemented their own form of a graduated response system, with escalating penalties for repeat offenders (such as required tutorials on copyright law or various forms of judicial sanctions).

It’s also important to note that we know college students are some of the most avid music fans. That’s great news! The music habits and customs they develop now are likely to stay with students for life. Therefore it’s especially important for them to be educated about the law; the harm suffered by musicians, labels and retailers alike when music is stolen; and the great legal ways to enjoy music online. Like students, we are huge fans of music and want to see a thriving music community that continues to develop exciting new bands for current and future generations.
 
Q:  What does the RIAA consider the university’s responsibility to be in curtailing file sharing? What happens when a university does not cooperate in mediating offenses by students?

Largely due to the work of the Joint Committee of the Higher Education and Entertainment Communities, we have made great progress in addressing piracy on campuses across the country. We have worked to forge collaborative relationships with campus administrators, and we regard our efforts with the university community as a partnership. For our part, we have offered universities a slate of educational tools and guidance, legal services, and an introduction to technologies that can reduce illegal file-sharing. Our door is always open to discuss any and all elements related to campus file-sharing.

We believe that university leaders have a responsibility to acknowledge campus piracy, to take steps to prevent the theft from occurring in the first place, and to demonstrate leadership in teaching students that music has value and there are right and wrong ways to acquire it. When college administrators are more proactive in addressing the campus piracy problem, it usually means fewer incidences of illegal downloading on those school networks and less chance that students will get in trouble for breaking the law.

Q: What steps can colleges and universities take to address piracy on its networks?

Educational institutions are uniquely positioned to shape student attitudes toward copyright.  Universities can increase network efficiency, reduce exposure to viruses, and ultimately reduce operating costs by adopting and consistently enforcing strong acceptable use policies, implementing technologies, and facilitating access to convenient, inexpensive, and legal alternatives.

There are several off-the-shelf, proactive applications that help campuses control network usage, define the scope of campus network bandwidth usage, and deter illegal P2P activity. These applications help maintain the integrity, security, and legal use of school computing systems without compromising student privacy.

Many universities have successfully implemented anti-piracy technological tools and report receiving fewer copyright infringement (DMCA) notices.  Several university officials have testified in Congress at the federal and state level about the efficacy and cost benefit of adopting an anti-piracy technology.  While each university has its own policies and tools, technology has clearly been part of the answer. 

Q:  Is it still illegal to download music on P2P sites like LimeWire, BitTorrent and Ares?

Absolutely. We will continue to monitor these and others and send notices to ISPs upon detection of illegal file-sharing activity.  Additionally, we will continue to hold file-trafficking services responsible.  That is and always has been our number one preference. We are not out of the anti-piracy business and will continue to focus and invest time and resources in going after the illegal services that facilitate and encourage theft.

Q:  Don’t you think some people are always going to download music illegally, even with a graduated response program in place?

We're realistic. As an industry, we have lived with street piracy for years. Similarly, there will always be a degree of piracy on the Internet. It's not realistic to wipe it out entirely but instead to bring it to a level of manageable control so a legitimate marketplace can really flourish.

Lawsuits were just one piece of our overall effort to discourage illegal downloading and encourage fans to turn to legal music alternatives. Yes, we enforce our rights against people who steal music. We also work hard to educate consumers about the law and about the many legal ways to get music online. Because we know the best way to deter piracy is to offer fans compelling legal alternatives, record companies are aggressively licensing their music to a great many services – from download and subscription models to Internet radio to legitimate P2P and more. Giving these legal online services a chance to flourish is a driving factor in almost everything we do.

Q: How is downloading music different from copying a personal CD?

Record companies have never objected to someone making a copy of a CD for their own personal use. We want fans to enjoy the music they bought legally. But both copying CDs to give to friends and downloading music illegally rob the people who created that music of compensation for their work. When record companies are deprived of critical revenue, they are forced to lay off employees, drop artists from their rosters, and sign fewer bands. That’s bad news for the music industry, but ultimately bad news for fans as well. We all benefit from a vibrant music industry committed to nurturing the next generation of talent.

Q: If people start paying to download and are charged per song, who decides how much a song costs and where that money goes?

Each legitimate music service has its own licensing agreements with the individual record companies. These agreements are likely to set many of those terms.  Luckily for fans, record companies have licensed hundreds of digital partners that offer a range of models, many of which are free and all of which are discounted.  A few examples we invite you to explore are listed on the RIAA's Legal Music Sites page.

Q: Should devices such as CD burners be outlawed since they are an easy way of making illegal copies of others creative efforts?

Devices and technology are not the problem. It’s when people use technology to break the law that we take issue.

Again and again, we have embraced the technological advances that have allowed millions upon millions of people around the world to enjoy the music we create. We want fans to enjoy their iPods, CD burners, and other devices, but we want them to do so responsibly, respectfully, and within the law.