Rich Fiscus
22 Apr 2009 19:32
The recent Pirate Bay guilty verdict has stirred up a long standing debate over the role of file sharers in the shrinking market for recorded music. Yet another study, this time from the BI Norwegian School of Management, is showing that individuals who download illegally also buy far more music legitimately than the rest of the population.
Also like previous studies, this one is being dismissed out of hand by the recording industry. A statement from an EMI representative seems to sum it up nicely.
Bjørn Rogstad said "There is one thing we are not going away, and it is the consumption of music increases, while revenue declines. It can not be explained in any way other than that the illegal downloading is over the legal sale of music."
If that's the actual thought process of label executives its easy to understand why they have done so poorly in the online marketplace. It has looked for a long time like their positions have been decided before looking at any evidence.
If you already "know" what the facts are, what are the chances you will pay attention to evidence that doesn't confirm your initial conclusion?