Wouldn’t it be nice if both sides of this furious battle between file-sharers and copyright protectors called a truce?

Impossible! It’s a very tough call. Can the RIAA stop the cog of illegal file sharing? Whether you will take a side or not, you cannot stop illegal music downloads. Monthly sales from file sharing exceed what the music industry makes in one whole year! The music industry itself is powerless as a drop in a bucket of water. Should the RIAA and record industry take a wider stance? Should more notices be sent out to IP addresses that commit this crime? Why do people download? For one, CD prices have spiked up since the days of Napster. Labels tried to make up for their profit losses due to P2P by bumping up their Suggested Retail List Prices. Instead of keeping a steady flow of income for the labels, it deterred music fans away from the purchase of an album or single. Why pay for something at a record store when there is another one being looted next door? Everyone has joined the free-for all.

What record labels should have done a long time ago was take EXTENSIVE action against file-sharing networks in the beginning. The lawsuits against Napster were not enough. Record labels should have taken extra measure to banish all servers, including Limewire, which is still in existence today. The plant should have been nipped at the bud.

But the aggressive stance of RIAA isn’t helping their image either. They are not the Superman to the Record labels. Their menacing tactics and excessively punitive measures have made them look like the bad guys, hurting their image and the image of the record labels. They look money hungry, greedy and soul-less in their notice letters and damage claims against college students and dead grandmothers. The RIAA claims to be protecting the rights of the artist, looking out for their best interest and their copyright protections. But where was the RIAA when artists and bands got sucked dry from their very record labels that claimed to be “helping them.” Artists were not making money from their music and artists are not making money from their music now.

There have been countless bands that have flourished by taking a chance to distribute their music at no cost for giving more incentive to listeners to hear their music and possibly become fans. Countless students agree that they became bigger fans of music when they began downloading for free. When they had the opportunity to obtain new music from new bands till their little heart’s content. They are more willing to be curious; they can afford to listen when new music is free.

However, many music fans listen to music and nothing else. There is a chance that downloaders will not spend their saved revenue on merchandise or concert tickets. They can be content off of sole songs. They don’t need a band t-shirt or the experience of a live show. But this is where the music industry will have to downsize

Labels are already downsizing, compounding into smaller groups, and joining forces. This is the nature of the game. What goes up must come down. This is a trough in success for the industry, but until new technology, software or media pops up for music to latch on to as a new mode for flourish, they might have to stick it out until then.