Illegal downloads drive online music sales

11. I would challenge your statistical reasoning. Your statistic shows that those who download illegally also purchase more songs. That is likely to be the result of them been keener on music. In terms of copyright infringemnt the statistic that would be of value is how much would that same group of illegal downloaders have spent if they could NOT have illegally downloaded music in the first place. It may be more than 77 pounds. (It may be less!). BUT you cannot infer that it would be less - because another group that don't illegally download music spend less.

10. liberty1947 - What I was referring to in my previous post was the difference between making an illegal copy of binary data, and denying someone their rightful access to a physical item. We might absolutely call it theft in both cases, but that was not my point. And I am not defending nor bashing illegal downloads. I just point out the difference between those two kinds of stealing. And they are not the same.

"The right to absolute control over one's intellectual property is THE number one most critical of all rights!" - well, that's your opinion, and you are fully entitled to it. I would personally for example place the rights not to be killed, tortured or thrown in jail without a fair trial a bit higher on the list of rights. But hey, that's me. And I guess I'm on another planet than you ;-)

///JmD

9. Regarding post number 7 by jmd:

Uh ... I'm not sure what planet you're on but here is a objectively demonstrable fact: The right to absolute control over one's intellectual property is THE number one most critical of all rights! Theft is theft -- period! Theft of intellectual property is every bit as destructive as theft of physical property. My question for you is, who told you otherwise and why did you choose to believe them?

8. <sarcasim>1000 participant survey. This is truly revealing.</sarcasim>

7. kolson256 - of course it is not the same to download music and steal a Ford Mustang. In the latter case someone is actually loosing that specific car, where as pirating music means you make a copy and the assumed loss is from the potential income if that specific copy was paid for instead. Don't confuse copyright infringement with theft.

///JmD

6. Now that Spotify gives us the means to listen legally before buying anything, those still illegally downloading are doing it because they want the music for free and aren't helping the industry at all.

5. This is one of the most rediculous studies I have seen in a long time. Its like saying that people who steal Mustangs are more likely to drive a Ford than people who have never stolen a Mustang.

A person who likes music enough to steal it is far more likely to spend money on songs than an average person who may never buy music anyway. I could just make up numbers and be just as useful as this study.

4. I buy very few CDs but I probably spend around £600-£1000 a year on live music (tickets+merch). I see this as a much better way of supporting the artists I like (many of whom I would not have heard had I not downloaded them)

3. Unheard music is unbought music.

2. I buy between 3 - 5 CDs a month & I would estimate that two thirds of these are as a result of downloading first & listening to them on my MP3 Walkman. I have found out more about & bought music by bands like Helia, Enter Shikari, Rammstein, The Temper Trap, Passion Pit to name a few. Now someone please tell me how I am not making a contribution to the music industry

1. Yeah I did that sometimes. If the artist was really good and I really liked that album I would go out and buy it either in store or iTunes. Although if it was terrible and sounded like trash I would just simply delete them and not keep it. Though I kinda just listen to them off youtube then decide..just to avoid the illegalness in the first place.