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Originally Posted by ianathuth
One thing that is being overlooked in those arguments about music and video pricing is that not everyone has or wants a PC and internet connection. They have to be catered for and pricing has to reflect their needs. You have to have most of the existing structure in place in order to cater for them and whilst very cheap online versions will benefit the internet user it will increase the costs and retail prices for high street buyers. Someone ends up paying for material which is downloaded for free or very cheaply and that is the people who are forced to buy on the high street. If you download illegally you are not just hitting the fat cats at the top of the industry.
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That argument may hold water if the market is static, but it isn't. Legal downloading is expanding revenues.
From the BBC in 2004(
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertain...ic/4044303.stm): "UK record companies are celebrating their best ever year for album sales, with a record 237 million sold in the 12 months to September." And if you really want to depress yourself, have a look at the list of the top ten selling LPs (three of which, incidentally, are best ofs where the record company has alreeady recouped its recording costs......
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