It's About Learning

File-Sharers Buy 30% More Music Than Non-P2P Peers | TorrentFreak via kwout

The following statement needs repeating:

One of the most comprehensive studies into media sharing and consumption habits in the United States and Germany reveals that file-sharers buy 30% more music than their non-sharing counterparts. The result confirms that file-sharers are actually the music industry’s best customers…

This is direct contrast to what the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) claims:

The more music people pirate, the less they buy…

What does this have to do with learning? A great deal when you consider that the best way to determine who is right is to see what the data says. According to the Copy Culture report by the American Assembly, a non-partisan public policy forum affiliated with Columbia University, people who pirate music files purchase 30% more than those who don’t.

This isn’t the first study, nor the last, that will reveal this fact. When will we start making decisions and implementing policy based on the facts?

For the additional information read the American Assembly posts:
Unauthorized File Sharing: Is It Wrong?
Where do Music Collections Come From?

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