Another Study: Pirates Are Industry's Biggest Paying Customers → Re: They obviously don't know any of the pirates that I know.

said by Nightfall:

Pirates are not as common as people think. A vast majority are already purchasing. Companies are surviving. Still, pirating does result in a loss of revenue. Just how much is up for debate. Its much less than the billions that the RIAA and MPAA say it is and its much more than the "nothing" that the pirates say they are.

said by Kearnstd:

Oh I think they have lost billions, but not due to piracy. But a lot of it is music has been revalued in the world. People used to spend lots of money on an album collection. Today they have Pandora, Or can cherry pick their favorite tracks on Amazon/iTunes for far less money.

The move to digital has also meant that lots of music can be purchased legit, from bands that can now skip the big record model. An indie band that previously had to sell their soul to EMI can now go it on their own and sell directly via iTunes.

said by NOVA_UAV_Guy:

Here's the rub with that: the MPAA and RIAA deduct the fictitious portion of losses due to piracy along with the real portion against their income.

This means that day in and day out, year after year, the MPAA and RIAA are getting away with tax fraud and cheating you, me, and everyone else out of the "benefits" we deserve from their tax payments.

Perhaps the RIAA and MPAA ought to stop defrauding the government through false accounting figures before they consider going after individuals for pirating something which may not have even resulted in a loss of revenue to them.