RIAA cooked the books to invent “piracy problem.”

From boingboing.net: A new research report suggests that the convicted price-fixers at the RIAA cooked the books to create a nonexistent “piracy problem.” “So the record industry cut their inventory (and artist investment) by 25 percent and sales only dropped 4.1 percent, even though the economy is at rock bottom. There were almost 12,000 fewer new releases for the consumer to choose from in 2001 than 1999. The record companies are making more money per release than ever.” Also covered in The Register.

Update: Our US readers are invited to join the class-action lawsuit on the price-fixing claim.