Now, what?

Study: P2P effect on legal music sales "not statistically distinguishable from zero"

Take this, RIAA/MPAA!!!

sorry for ripping through without commenting but I'm off for lunch. may be later I'll update.

eccomi qua: will quote the article from ars technica: A new study in the Journal of Political Economy by Felix Oberholzer-Gee and Koleman Strumpf has found that illegal music downloads have had no noticeable effects on the sale of music, contrary to the claims of the recording industry.

So, it's not ome bonker's (or lawyer's) study, but one peer-reviewed within a respectable journal. This confirms my idea. Those who download music either would not buy it in first place, or do it to sample at their own ease something before actually purchasing. If anything, pirated music does increase the awareness that something new has come out, exactly as radio broadcast does. The industry should be giving away the songs in radio-quality files, for exactly the same reasons.