Scoop’s Views

Do you tire, like me, of listening to “recording artists,” the record companies, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), whine about declining music sales? Are you tired of hearing that all of it is tied to “online music piracy” almost every time you turn on the TV news?

Aaron Pressman, of BusinessWeek, wrote an article — which he calls his “entire simple thesis — that offers the same argument I’ve been making for years. The only difference between what Pressman said in his article and what I’ve been arguing is that he used actual numbers.

In making his argument, Pressman actually used numbers from a 2005 MPAA report. As Pressman pointed out, going to page 51 will lead you to a table of the number of hours the average consumer is involved — tied up, wasting, oblivious to life, or whatever you call it — on various forms of commercial entertainment.

According to the report, which Pressman summarized, in four years, from 2001 through 2005, overall time spent on those commercial forms of entertainment rose to 3,482 hours per person. In one year, mind you, there are but 8,760 hours. If you got the proper rest each night — about eight (8) hours, that means you would have 16 hours per day remaining. If you work a full-time job (40 hours), that means your day would be split into three shifts, with each being eight hours long. Each shift would amount to a total of 2,920 hours per year.

Subtracting out eight hours for work, that means you have 5,840 hours remaining per year. Of that, according to the MPAA, the “average” consumer spent 3,482 hours in “commercial entertainment. If the rest of the time were given to sleep, which the body so desperately needs, that means you are left with but 6.46 hours of sleep per night for the entire year. That is about one and one-half hours less, per night, than an average adult should reserve for rest each night, according to many sleep researchers. Now we see where the pockets, er, investors, er, bankers, er, bean counters, um … big wigs of MPAA, RIAA, and others, are focused: on your pocket. They could care less about your health or your income as long as they report record levels of income each year.

Getting back to the MPAA numbers, from 2001 through 2005, consumers increased “commercial entertainment” time from 3,356 hours per year to 3,482 hours per year per person. That’s more than a four percent increase, but also a four percent total decrease in time available for rest, an important part of life to which Americans already give too little time.

Now, here is the interesting thing, as Pressman points out. That increase didn’t benefit all forms of “entertainment” equally. He provided a set of numbers to demonstrate the gainers and losers. They are reprinted below:

Be sure to visit Pressman’s article. He goes into dollars-and-cents, too. It’s a very interesting picture, but one the MPAA, RIAA, and others would have you not think about when they are whining about selling fewer CDs.

People are already over-extended time-wise, not to take into consideration money-wise. There’s a limit to everything, or, as some often say, “All things in moderation.” Perhaps RIAA, MPAA, the recording artists, and the companies involved all need to consider “all profits in moderation.”

So, what’s your take on all this?