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The owners of Spanish website Puretunes.com are the latest to feel the wrath of the Recording">http://www.riaa.com">Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in its campaign to rid the world of unauthorized music. The site's parent company, Sakfield Holding, will defend itself against a lawsuit filed July 3 in the US District Court for the District of Columbia. The accusation: providing illegal downloads.

The market for recorded music, measured by what manufacturers ship to retail and non-retail channels, experienced a decline in unit shipments and dollar value according to a Recording">http://www.riaa.com">Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) report released February 19. Concurrently, accounts from US record retailers and mass merchandisers indicated a banner 1997.

Recorded music was a $14.3 billion business in the United States last year, according to the newly published 2000 Consumer Profile from the Recording">http://www.riaa.com/">Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Released March 13, the report details who music buyers are, what they are buying, and how much they are spending.

The music industry intends to leave no stone unturned in its war on piracy. Just a week after reports emerged about crackdowns on sales of pirated CDs at flea">http://www.stereophile.com/news/11514/">flea markets and swap meets, the Recording">http://www.riaa.com">Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) announced a campaign to eliminate sales of unauthorized discs at gas stations, grocery and convenience stores, and small independent music outlets.

On January 17, we reportedhttp://www.stereophile.com/news/10650/">reported; a new service by MP3.comhttp://www.mp3.com/">MP3.com; in which it would store, on its site, digital copies of tunes purchased by music lovers for them to access from any location. Beverly Hills attorney Ken Hertz, who sometimes consults with MP3.com, said he would be "surprised if the recording industry didn't sue," despite glowing statements from MP3.com chief Michael Robertson about all the benefits and new sales the recording industry would enjoy from his venture into uncharted waters.

As 2004 wound down, the Los Angeles sheriff's department successfully conducted five simultaneous raids on illegal CD replication plants in southern California on December 15. Dubbed "Operation Final Release," the joint operation between the Southern California High Tech Task Force and the LA sheriff's department put 65 officers into action, closing down five optical disc replication facilities in LA and Orange counties suspected of churning out millions of pirated CDs, which were sold throughout the United States.

The Recording">http://www.riaa.com">Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has requested increased federal funding for the ongoing struggle against the pirating of recorded music. On Tuesday, April 23, the organization's executives asked the US House of Representatives' Appropriations Committee for more money to pursue pirates. Such allocations come directly from tax revenues, according to reports from Washington.