[nrp]

Per the RIAA, the entire recorded music industry in the US recorded under $7 Billion in revenue in 2014. Apple has north of $20 Billion in cash in the US. There are likely many reasons for Apple to make the move they did, but it is unlikely cash on hand was one of them.

[rsync]

"Per the RIAA, the entire recorded music industry in the US recorded under $7 Billion in revenue in 2014."

Amazing. We think of the RIAA, or "big music" as some kind of juggernaut force in society and politics - especially Internet politics.

But their entire industry top line is smaller than what fedex makes in a month.[1]

[1] http://www.nasdaq.com/symbol/fdx/revenue-eps

[charlesdenault]

That's astonishing. I'd be interested in seeing some more statistics on the amount of lobbying vs market size compared to other industries (e.g. Transportation, Hospitality, Pharma).

[jdjb]

Something tells me we'd see a direct correlation between the amount of lobbying and the amount of legal backing your "product" needs in order to have value (copyright protection, patents, brand trademarks, etc).

[RodericDay]

This happens all the time in "Uber vs. big taxi medallion cartel" debates.

[maxerickson]

The months there are dates marking fiscal quarters, so each number is for 3 months. Fedex monthly revenue is a bit less than $4 billion.

[ixtli]

Sadly that's still more than enough money to bully individuals :(

[reagency]

You can't compare top-line revenue across industries. Fedex is capital intensive.