The Recording Industry Association of America has published a new report linking the 10% drop in overall music shipments in the first six months of 2002 to music downloading. The association unveiled new data from Peter D. Hart Research Associates that found consumers are downloading more and purchasing less. A survey this May of 860 music consumers aged 12 to 54 found that among those who claimed that their downloading from file-sharing services had increased over the past six months, 41% purchase less music now than they did six months ago. The study also found that 63% of Internet-connected music consumers acquired at least one burned CD in the past year. Of that group, 24% said they had acquired 11 or more burned CDs -- up from 10% in the previous year.
While the US industry acknowledges other factors, and particularly the overall decline in consumer spending, played a role in falling music sales, RIAA president Cary Sherman still feels illegal downloading is the main culprit. "Cumulatively, this data should dispel any notion that illegal file sharing helps the music industry," Sherman said in a statement. The RIAA also confirmed it is stepping up its commercial anti-piracy efforts (ie targeting conventional pirates who bootleg CDs). In the first half of 2002, RIAA anti-piracy units executed nearly twice as many search warrants than in the same period last year, and arrests and indictments were up 84%. However, Sherman says commercial disc piracy "continues to harm the industry."