TorrentFreak, as always, writes interesting stuff. It's a shame I don't have time to read it in full, but I do read some of the articles.
Here's the latest news, for example, about how the wife of the professor who testified as a witness in the Pirate Bay trial got swamped with flowers.
But the previous one is even more interesting: why major label music sales are falling. The guy lays out some pretty plausible reasons.
So you don't have to torture yourselves with bourgeois letters, I'll translate the main points:
1. The money for buying music went into buying games for PC and consoles
2. Music is now easier and cheaper to buy from abroad.
3. Unlike vinyl and cassettes, CDs and mp3s don't degrade, so there's no need to buy them again. Plus, you can buy it secondhand. My comment: only if you have backups, and very few people make them.
4. Thanks to the cheapness and simplicity of the recording process, many independent musicians and labels have emerged, taking a bite out of the majors' market. My comment: I don't really believe in this kind of idyll. Indies are going bankrupt right now, their incomes are falling.
5. You can buy mp3s instead of discs. That's what I do.
6. There's a lot of free music — on the internet, on the radio, on TV. This is true, just look at Last.Fm.
7. Besides games, there are many other forms of entertainment eating up music revenues.
8. Instead of albums, people buy singles digitally. That's what they wanted, and besides, the majors trained them to expect hits.
The author draws a simple and ancient conclusion — the majors are to blame for their own troubles; they should have implemented new digital methods of sales and promotion themselves, instead of dragging their feet.