source
P2P users among music industry's best customers
A new study published today claims that users who share and download music files online also buy four and a half times more music online than your average music listener, at least in the UK. Instead of magically costing the industry money, these users are apparently interacting with more music, and as a result, buying more music from legitimate channels. The study stems from a survey conducted by The Leading Question, a digital music research company who surveyed 600 self-styled music fans.
"There's a myth that all illegal downloaders are mercenaries hell-bent on breaking the law in pursuit of free music. In reality they are often hardcore fans who are extremely enthusiastic about adopting paid-for services as long as they are suitably compelling," said Paul Brindley, director of The Leading Question.
The study only assessed buying music online, and therefore did not factor in the relationship of this behavior to CD sales. Nevertheless, it's an interesting notion that those most familiar with P2P are also more interested in legitimate online music sales. Is it a "try before you buy" scenario, or are users afraid of being sued? One might think that fear is factoring into this, but the people buying all of that music in question were actively also downloading music illegally.
The British Phonographic Industry largely dismissed the significance of the study, however, claiming that study after study has demonstrated the harm P2P itself has done to the industry. The problem, of course, is that these losses have been blown entirely out of proportion, and sometimes the industry actually tries to cover up how well it's doing. The issue isn't profitability, it's control. That's what happens when an entity gets too much power: its "vision" for the future hopes to dictate part of that future.
Another study done just two years ago also showed the correlation between music downloads and sales, and was also summarily dismissed by the music industry.
