THE CATCHER IN THE RIAA

According to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), there was a sharp decline in shipments of recorded music in the last half of 2000, despite a very strong first half. The RIAA released a report this week putting the blame for the overall decrease on the decline of CD singles shipments, pointedly suggesting that primary responsibility for the drop be placed on Napster, along with the fact that radio played the same three songs 4,567,002 a day.

The market did witness an increase in dollar value for full-length compact discs. However, that 3.1% gain was more than offset by the decline in the singles sector, resulting in a 7% overall drop in unit shipments—dropping the dollar value of those units from $14.6 billion in 1999 to $14.3 billion last year.

Still, RIAA head Hilary Rosen remains upbeat. "There's no question those numbers are disappointing, but the future looks bright for the industry and consumers alike," she said. "I believe a road has been paved to enable legitimate online music market to take hold and flourish. The appetite for music remains high, and our member companies are poised to meet new demand."

Meanwhile, as usual, cassette shipments and revenue continued to plummet in 2000, along with music video shipments—although DVD video shipments grew—while direct and special markets (mail order, record clubs, non-music retail outlets, and Internet sales) showed a significant growth of 5.5%.