Originally Posted by andydresser

Not scared... but record profits? Certain areas of the industry are seeing a rise (instrument sales, digital music sales, etc), but the record music industry in general is not on the rise. Music consumption is, however.. which is good news.

Physical sales are down 19%, Wal-Mart is the leading retailer worldwide. Big-box is tunneling in on a very limited amount of titles, making it very difficult to "share the wealth." iTunes is making up for much of the ground lost in the physical world, but is still primarily used by Apple as a loss-leader for their hardware. I will agree that their sales figures are quite conservative, and many companies are doing better than they would lead you to believe. However, to say the market of phonographic sales is experiencing "record profits" is, well... wrong.

Also, in response to "being scared":
RIAA Jury Finds Minnesota Woman Liable for Piracy, Awards $222,000 | Threat Level from Wired.com
RIAA Settles Kazaa Copyright Battle with Bronx Woman

I'm not advocating for using lawsuits as a way to pad lost revenue... but it does happen :O