Next on Record Industry's 'Wanted' List: Online Streaming Services

P2P file sharing is not such a big problem after all, says music industry analyst but sites with streaming content are

The media has been swarming for quite some time now with statistics coming from the record industry and trying to convince everybody that illegal file sharing is the single most important cause for the huge decline in sales. Lately, the record labels have been pointing their finger at online streaming services as well saying that "there's nothing left to promote." Let’s see how true that really is.

According to techdirt.com, a few days ago Russ Crupnick, a music industry analyst at the NPD Group, explained at the Leadership Music Digital Summit that p2p file sharing’s weight in the current state of affairs of the record industry has been exaggerated and therefore it is wrong to blame it for the industry’s losses. However, by the end of the summit Crupnick directed its speech against a bigger problem – that of sites that offer streaming services and which, by doing so, encourage people not to buy music anymore. The industry is thus alarmed that people are "only listening to music"!

Although it’s quite a relief to listen to a different tune than the ol’ good ‘it’s all because of the p2p file sharing,’ you cannot but notice how this crybaby industry is jumping at any occasion to find a scapegoat for what it is actually its own lack of flexibility. Perhaps if it could only see beyond today and its own need for security and be willing to treat customers a bit more than simple consumers…