] A Record Industry Association survey suggests that an
] astonishing 40 per cent of us have received homemade CDs
] as gifts, typically four each during the past year.
]
] The industry wants us to feel bad about this. It says we
] are guilty of theft (or at least of receiving stolen
] goods). When three university students were sentenced
] last month for their role in creating a music download
] site the industry claimed they should have been treated
] as common criminals. "Clearly, if you steal this much
] music from the store you go to jail," a spokesman said.
]
] But creating CDs is different from stealing CDs from a
] store, and the industry's figures bear this out.
]
] The recording industry survey was carried out by Quantum
] Market Research using a sample of about 1000 people. It
] suggests that 31 million homemade CDs are given away as
] gifts each year (about four for each of the eight million
] Australians it says receive them). If, as seems
] reasonable, 31 million homemade CDs are kept rather than
] given away, the total number created each year would top
] 62 million.
]
] When something is stolen there is normally something
] missing. A dent of 62 million in CD sales in stores each
] year should be easy to spot. Except for this problem. CD
] sales in Australian stores have hardly ever been that
] high. They peaked at 63 million in 2001.