Pirates on the starboard bow

Music piracy costs the music industry millions if not billions a year …or so the conventional wisdom goes. I doubt that this is so. The music industry– in terms of sales of singles – has been dying for some time. This has little to do with piracy; and much more to do with alternative demands on the pocket money of kids. Sales of computer games have risen steadily as music sales have fallen. Piracy is too easy a target – and it means that many music business executives have taken their eye off the real threat of competition.