It's been a little while since I have ranted copyright. But This article just pisses me off to no end.

Music sales in Canada dropped 4% in 2005 to $536 million, the Canadian Recording Industry Assn. reported Thursday.

The dip is part of a 10-year decline that the CRIA blames on illegal music downloading.

Except, the RIAA, the big brother to the CRIA, as been known to fudge their numbers, and claim things like music sales are dropping, when really they are gaining in the face of a recession. So have music sales really dropped 4%? Does it have to do with piracy, or does it have to do with the number of music retailers online? Does it account for non-Canadian music e-tailers that sell to Canadians? I don't know the answers to these questions, but I rather suspect it goes something like "We cherry-pick whichever makes it look like we are losing the most money!"

Maybe the real answer to the question is that Canadians don't need to buy that pop album because it is all we on the radio. I don't know the state of radio for the rest of Canada, but if Calgary is any indication, it is pop, rock, more pop, and a little bit of country. To be hones,t I haven't really looked into buying music online, but I rather suspect that a dollar per song is about right. So, say a full CDs worth of songs (call it 10-12 songs) is almost equal to the cost of a music CD (10-15 dollars). They're selling bits. There is no artwork, no packaging and no inventory. Shipping is incredibly fast, easy and cost-effective. Why aren't the savings passed on to the customer?

Another problem. "Illegal music downloading"? Errr... no. It is legal, according to the Supreme Court of Canada and our current copyright legislation. But what gets me is this quote from the CRIA head honcho:

"As legal downloading surges ahead in other parts of the world, Canada is marooned on the sidelines," said CRIA president Graham Henderson. "The goal of a vibrant digital marketplace in Canada will remain beyond reach until our legal environment encourages people to buy music instead of passively accepting theft on the Web."

So wait a second. You lobby to get higher levies on blank media, because Canadian copyright law allows private copying, and you get it. Now that you have it, you want Canada to make private copying illegal? So you want to have your cake, and eat it too then? I see.

Funny how this "News Article" from variety just listens to one side of the story. Sounds to me like they got it from a press release.