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Originally Posted by andygrif
As far as I know a recording group or company could invoke a writ which is granted by a court, would technically the Police could come round and seize your equipment and any infringing copies, but not something you could be arrested for (unless you're counterfeiting) - but I might be wrong on this, so will bow to your knowledge of the subject.
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Actually, I was trying to make the point that, however you look at it, downloading copyrighted music from unauthorised sources is illegal. Obviously, you are saying the same thing, so we do agree.
You've possibly got more knowledge of it than I, I am not a lawyer, just have read through the Copyright Act (sad, I know).
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This is a moot point, I agree. There is evidence as I eluded to earlier in this thread that P2P'ers in general buy more music than non P2P'ers. There is also research that says this is not the case - as ever, it's all in who you ask and the questions you ask them I guess. As a matter of fact, there were more albums sold in the UK in 2003 than ever before - but single sales were down. This is not the case, however, in most other markets, particularly Asia which has a P2P culture that is, for want of a better word, rampant.
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Asia had a massive piracy problem before P2P was even invented. I think this is as much to do with the various governments previous, slightly more relaxed attitude to piracy as P2P. Not that I am saying P2P is entirely blameless (I don't think it is).
IIRC single sales have actually been dropping since around the late 80s.
There are other possible reasons for the downturn, that the record industry seems to largely ignoring (maybe they are not, but they appear to be):
The worldwide economic climate: Throughout the nineties, various parts of the world (us and the states included) were bouncing in and out of recession. This could cause a drop in sales as, in a recession, people tend not to buy luxury items, and albums and singles tend to be regarded as luxuries.
Manufactured music and endless Oasis/Blur/Radiohead clones: There seems to be very little original music played on the radio and television now. The record companies only really seem interested in plugging the latest manufactured band. Even their attempts at plugging the bands seem formularised (form new band of 5 members, male or female, cover old classic song, create a video with a lot of computer graphics & put them on TV, then arrange a tour). Although some these bands are actually good, in general, I think people are getting bored with them.
It's also possible that the number of compilation albums is affecting single sales. Why spend £3.99 on one single with maybe three or four tracks (usually remixes) when you can spend £15 and get 30-40 of them..
In short, I believe that P2P sharing is one problem for the record companies. I don't believe its the only one (or even the main one) though.
@kronas: Kronas, where do you buy your albums? If it's a small independant record store, you may be able to persuade them to buy a cheap CD player and headphones to allow you to sample tracks.