Source+5

Mcbride, Sarah, and Ethan Smith. "Music Industry to Abandon Mass Suits - WSJ.com." // Business News & Financial News - The Wall Street Journal - Wsj.com // . 19 Dec. 2008. Web. 02 May 2011. .

**Source 5:**

1) Critics say the legal offensive ultimately did little to stem the tide of illegally downloaded music. And it created a public-relations disaster for the industry, whose lawsuits targeted, among others, several single mothers, a dead person and a 13-year-old girl.

2) The RIAA says piracy would have been even worse without the lawsuits.

3) Meanwhile, music sales continue to fall. In 2003, the industry sold 656 million albums. In 2007, the number fell to 500 million CDs and digital albums, plus 844 million paid individual song downloads -- hardly enough to make up the decline in album sales.

4) After years of suing thousands of people for allegedly stealing music via the Internet, the recording industry is set to drop its legal assault as it searches for more effective ways to combat online music piracy.

5) The decision represents an abrupt shift of strategy for the industry, which has opened legal proceedings against about 35,000 people since 2003.

6) After years of suing thousands of people for allegedly stealing music via the Internet, the recording industry is set to drop its legal assault as it searches for more effective ways to combat online music piracy.

7) It isn't clear that the new strategy will work or how effective the collaboration with the ISPs will be. "There isn't any silver-bullet anti-piracy solution," said Eric Garland, president of BigChampagne LLC, a piracy consulting company.

8) Indeed, many in the music industry felt the lawsuits had outlived their usefulness.

9) The RIAA believes the new strategy will reach more people, which itself is a deterrent.  10) The industry says the percentage of Internet users who download music over the Internet has remained fairly constant, hovering around 19% over the past few years.