Following the publishing last week of data from the Australian Record Industry Association with regards Australian downloading habits, there's been a bit of a media / majors ruckus going on. Aussie media commentator Phil Tripp questioned ARIA's findings challenging the figures; the ARIA then made matters worse by shying away from his criticisms. This caused another journalist - Sam Varghese – to join in questioning the industry body's research.
ARIA's finding suggested 1.8m Australians illegally downloaded music files last month. It claimed 3.6m Australians (and 40% of people under 25) have illegally burned a CD in the last 6 months and that around 32m CDs were illegally burned in the last 12 months. It is these figures Tripp and Varghese claim don't add up – plus, they argue, those figures alone do not give any real picture of the state of music piracy, how it had changed and how it is impacting on retail sales.
ARIA are yet to respond propely, though as Aussie music site Undercover points out – the ongoing download debate doesn't really help the music industry - "Yes, downloading is hurting the industry but how many downloads people make is not the entire problem. It's about time everyone got over their little schoolboy tantrums and started working towards a common goal for the common good of the industry."