ANY OTHER EXCUSES?
There are plenty of reasons why music sales are down ... and filesharing isn't amoung them.

The October `03 edition of WIRED Magazine has a blurb which indicates that other factors are contributing to the drop in music sales over the past few years. Here are the numbers:

"In recent years, the number of releases has fallen 14 percent, and CD prices have CLIMBED 16% (in inflation-adjusted dollars). Listeners were paying more and purchasing less - and sales of CDs sank 7% ... what the RIAA doesn't want to admit is that the CD is reaching the end of its life cycle, just like the cassette did several years ago."

It breaks it down like this:

Average cost of a CD in 1997: $13.19.
Average cost of a CD in 2002: $15.25

Average number of new titles in 1997: 33,700
Average number of new titles in 2002: 33,433

Overall revenue (in billions) in 1997: $11.9 billion
Overall revenue (in billions) in 2002: $12.3 billion

E-R will leave it to our readers to decide if suing their customers is the right way to generate more sales.