Study Claims File-Sharing Has 'Little Effect' On CD Sales
Results Contradict Position Of Music Industry
POSTED: 2:13 p.m. EST March 30, 2004
A new study conducted by two university researchers shows that file-sharing and illegal swapping of music files has had negligible effect on legitimate music sales. Those results clash with assertions by the music industry, which blames widespread file-sharing for a precipitous drop in compact disc sales between 2000 and 2003.
The study compared the downloading habits of users of the OpenNap file-sharing application with the sales of 690 CDs over the course of 17 weeks in the second half of 2002. Researchers concluded that not only did the file-sharing fail to negatively impact CD sales, it increased the sales of the hottest music titles.
Felix Oberholzer-Gee, one of the two authors of the study, told the Washington Post that their "most pessimistic" statistical model showed that file-sharing would have accounted for only about 2 million fewer CD sales in 2002. That compares to the 139 million sales decline reported by the music industry between 2000 and 2002.
This study is just the latest in a series of examinations of the effect of file-sharing on the music industry, and the results have been mixed. Two studies by Jupiter Research analyst Aram Sinnreich in 1999 and 2002 found that people who downloaded music also bought music through legitimate channels.
But the Recording Industry Association of America told the Post that a number of other studies suggest file-sharing is the primary factor behind the decline in music sales since 1999. The RIAA points to data that shows CD sales from a high of more than $13.2 billion in 2000 to $11.2 billion in 2003. That period coincides with the rise of online music sharing services.
Critics of the industry note that comparing total sales figures instead of the number of individual titles sold is misleading, since it fails to take into account a decline in the overall suggested sales price of compact discs.
Do You Share Music Files?
The study compared the downloading habits of users of the OpenNap file-sharing application with the sales of 690 CDs over the course of 17 weeks in the second half of 2002. Researchers concluded that not only did the file-sharing fail to negatively impact CD sales, it increased the sales of the hottest music titles.
Felix Oberholzer-Gee, one of the two authors of the study, told the Washington Post that their "most pessimistic" statistical model showed that file-sharing would have accounted for only about 2 million fewer CD sales in 2002. That compares to the 139 million sales decline reported by the music industry between 2000 and 2002.
This study is just the latest in a series of examinations of the effect of file-sharing on the music industry, and the results have been mixed. Two studies by Jupiter Research analyst Aram Sinnreich in 1999 and 2002 found that people who downloaded music also bought music through legitimate channels.
But the Recording Industry Association of America told the Post that a number of other studies suggest file-sharing is the primary factor behind the decline in music sales since 1999. The RIAA points to data that shows CD sales from a high of more than $13.2 billion in 2000 to $11.2 billion in 2003. That period coincides with the rise of online music sharing services.
Critics of the industry note that comparing total sales figures instead of the number of individual titles sold is misleading, since it fails to take into account a decline in the overall suggested sales price of compact discs.
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