Our reader's hunch that record sales are not going down because of file-sharing might be right. In fact, they are going up, according to a Nielsen Scan research that identified an end to a 3-year drop: a 7% rise in the first half 2004. I wonder how the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) will spin the news—we're sure their PR team will find a down side and blame file-sharers.

In other news RIAA seems to try keeping up with the changes and have announced that will track US downloads to give sales awards as a measure of recognition.

Tracks downloaded on legal online services will receive Gold and Platinum awards based on sales. Certified sales of 100,000 singles will earn a Gold award, with double that amount warranting a Platinum award. Multiplatinum awards start at 400,000 and increase in increments of 200,000 from there. An event scheduled for late August will mark the official launch of the digital download program.