> Since [...] 2000, global recorded music revenues have fallen from $21 billion to $7 billion per year. [...] So where did the money go? Two places: into the po

> Since [...] 2000, global recorded music revenues have fallen from $21 billion to $7 billion per year. [...] So where did the money go? Two places: into the pockets of Digital Monopolists and Digital Thieves. The author here is making an absolutely incredible assumption here, which is that the decline in revenue for the entertainment industry is somehow fundamentally wrong and must be caused by bad people. But it's far more likely that the revenue seen by the entertainment industry leading up to 2000 was an aberration, caused by a very brief window of time where technology enabled mass production and distribution by corporations without easy copying or sharing by individuals. But if you go further back than 2000[1], I'm sure you'll find that their revenue was much lower not all that long ago. I'd be very surprised if that $21 billion number didn't represent their all-time peak, meaning 2000 wasn't the start of the decline, it was actually just the end of a bubble. [1] I'm having trouble finding that data myself, anyone know where to look? Addendum: It turns out the worldwide music industry revenues actually haven't fallen since 2000. Which I guess explains why the article explicitly said "recorded music". According to http://www.businessinsider.com/music-industry-revenues-chart-2014-6?op=1 http://www.businessinsider.com/music-industry-revenues-chart..., the worldwide music industry revenues in 2013 are about the same as in 2000 [2]. But what's actually happened is that most of that money is now coming from tours instead of recorded music [3]. This further reinforces my "bubble" argument. Before the advent of easily-produced recorded music, the music industry revenue must have been mostly live music. So the bubble here is just the short period of time when the music industry was able to make a killing on mass-produced recorded music sales. But that bubble is over, we're back to the industry needing to earn its money from live music and other secondary sources. But of course the music industry doesn't want to admit that this is a bubble. They want to pretend that the business model of selling recorded music is sacred and must be protected by law, regardless of the consequences. [2]: It's 3% lower, but that's pretty meaningless. [3]: It says 36% of the revenue is recorded music.