Mark Cuban on RIAA Sales Figures

In addition to being the owner of the Dallas Mavericks, Mark Cuban is a respected technology entrepreneur with some pretty progressive views. In a recent blog post he questions the logic of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). In part, he writes:

"The RIAA claims that sales of the top 100 CDs sold 195mm units in 1999, materially above the 154mm units sold in 2004. Which leads to a question. Are sales down due to filesharing, or have RIAA members just lost market share?

"I contend RIAA sales are down because they lost market share. There are more CDs being self-published or released by non-RIAA members than ever before. Sales from web sites, concerts and car trunks are taking away sales from traditional labels. Access and awareness of that music has exploded through web radio, web sites, p2p, satellite radio and tours."

Here, here! There's a lot of activity brewing below the surface of SoundScan.