Graham of the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA) recently went to Washington to speak about Canadian copyright laws. He had one particular comment that is worth responding to.

Since artists receive on average only 15% of album sales revenues, whereas they receive on average 50% from concerts and 80% from collected remunerations, the decline in music sales means “record companies, not the musicians, (are the ones) who are losing out.

Says former production company entitled to 50% of digital music sales and not the 12% Universal Music had been giving it.

Aging rocker complains that it’s “destroyed the music business” and that it’s “going to destroy the movie business” someday.

RIAA pres Cary Sherman says the failed sue-em-all campaign was really a success because it was “constantly generating dinner conversations about what you may or may not do with your computer.

Gama Bomb frontman Philly Byrne is “stunned” that Paul McGuinness believes implementing a “three-strikes” regime to punish illegal file-sharer is less worse than suing them in court being that both are a prosecution of the “very people artists rely on.

Fleetwood Mac singer complains the Internet has made it impossible for new bands to make it these days, and that if they don’t have a hit single their record label will drop them.

There’s been no shortage of opinions on the issue of downloading music. From average citizens to activists to labels to mainstream to small time artists, just everyone affected by the music industry has an opinion on the digital environment.

If you’ve been around the copyright debate for a while, chances are, you’ve heard the labels in the debate argue over and over that the artists deserve to be paid.

Prince shunned digital retailers like Apple’s iTunes for not “paying him in advance” and opted instead to distribute free copies of 20Ten with various European newspapers and magazines.

Claim RK Netmedia and RealityKings have been illegally using copyrighted material for the background music of a number of pornographic videos. The music industry is leaving no stone unturned in its battle against copyright infringement, reportedly targeting Miami-based RK Netmedia and RealityKings.

Loreena McKennitt says the creative community isn’t creative enough to figure out how to distribute music online without risking failure to recoup its investment, and that when you buy a CD all you’re buying is a license to listen to it.

Shuns online distribution of upcoming “20Ten album” amid complaints that Apple’s iTunes won’t pay him an advance for it. Says the Internet’s become “outdated” and that PCs and digital gadgets “can’t be good for you.

Creates “Music Rights Now” campaign to encourage the public to lobby their elected officials for stronger protections of Intellectual Property rights, citing countries like New Zealand, South Korea, France and the UK – all countries with “three-strikes” legislation R

Sends the search engine giant a DMCA complaint asking that it quit “providing search results directly linking to the website for the illegal file-sharing service” that is the Swedish BitTorrent tracker site The Pirate Bay.

Illegal file-sharing spreads from computers to Google’s Android OS-based smartphones, making the music industry’s anti-piracy efforts that much harder.

Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA) said they fell by their lowest amount in five years helped, in part, by a lower average album price that has dipped below £8 ($11.90 USD) for the first time.

Forthcoming second album “Congratulations” appears on BitTorrent tracker sites everywhere well ahead of its official April 13th release date, and unable to respond by offering it as a free download decides to stream it on its website instead.

Use BitTorrent to download all of the MP3 files publicly available on the SXSW website as of March 6, 2010. It’s that time of year again with the 2010 SXSW music festival fast approaching.

RIAA CEO Mitch Bainwol makes the extraordinary leap in thought by comparing hacker attempts to steal source code and spy on the gMail accounts of human rights activists to the RIAA’s battle with illegal P2P.