Debunking the Myth of the Struggling Entertainment Industry

It's been a lucrative decade for the people who want to ram anti-piracy laws down our throats.

Many of the entertainment industry's arguments in support of anti-piracy laws have hinged around economic impact its had on their way of doing business. You know the lines - untold billions being pilfered away by foreign pirates, etc., etc. Well, as it turns out, the entertainment industry – film, music, books, television, and video games – is doing just fine, thank you very much. A study released by the Computing and Communications Industry Association finds that all sectors within the industry have just completed a banner decade. Among their findings:

• Global box office revenues grew from $25.5 billion in 2005 to $31.8 billion in 2010;

• The worldwide gaming industry grew from about $20 billion in 2000 to about $70 billion in 2011;

• The value of the global music industry jumped from $132 billion in 2005 to $168 billion in 2010 (thanks, iTunes!);

• The U.S. book publishing industry grew by more than five per cent between 2008 and 2010, the harshest years of the recession;

• Consumer spending in the U.S. on entertainment as a percentage of income grew 15 per cent between 2000 and 2010;

• Sales of concert tickets tripled between 1999 and 2009, from $1.5 billion to $4.6 billion.

Yep, tough times for the entertainment industry, indeed.