i like this guy. he is got all the right ideas based on his study. i myself dl, but also end up buying all i dl eventually. i agree that downloads actually lead to more spending being done toward these products in the long run.



--Previous Message--
: Drawing on a major study of Dutch file-sharers, Prof. Nico van
: Eijk of the University of Amsterdam concludes, "These
: figures show that there is no sharp divide between file sharers
: and others in their buying behaviour. On the contrary, when it
: comes to attending concerts, and expenses on DVDs and games,
: file sharers are the industry's largest customers... There does
: not appear to be a clear relationship between the decline in
: sales and file sharing."
:
: In fact, the study found that file-sharers often buy more
: content, especially when it comes to films and games.
:
: Van Eijk's conclusions appear in a recent paper for the journal
: Communications & Strategies, one coauthored with Joost Poort
: and Paul Rutten. While van Eijk doesn't deny that specific
: industries (like recorded music) have been in decline, he paints
: a more complicated picture of the content industries as a whole.
:
: For instance, Sweden has long been regarded as a worldwide
: piracy hub - it's home to The Pirate Bay, the VPN IPRedator, and
: it sent a member of the Pirate Party to the European Parliament.
: But van Eijk draws on 2009 research showing that "total
: revenues [in Sweden] from recorded music, live concerts and
: collecting societies remained roughly stable between 2000 and
: 2008."
:
: That doesn't help the recording industry, however, unless music
: labels get a cut of revenues from live music and merchandise.
: That's exactly what has started to happen via so-called
: "360 deals" over the last few years, where labels will
: invest in recording and promotion budgets for bands, but only
: when they benefit from all parts of the band's revenue stream.
:
: Van Eijk sees this as a necessary business model change in
: response to file-sharing, but he argues that far more innovation
: is needed. And he blasts the music industry in particular for
: acting out of fear. Labels tried to "stem the tide of
: unlicensed music file sharing with their conservative strategy
: of abstaining from innovation, promoting legal measures against
: supposed offences, and digital rights management," he
: wrote.
:
: "This strategy resulted in the current backlash, providing
: space for a new entrant establishing a major brand in the online
: music business: Apple's iTunes. Reinvention of the business
: model looks like the only way out for the traditional players in
: the music industry."
:
: In the end, says van Eijk, "File sharing is here to stay
: and... people who download are at the same time important
: customers of the entertainment industry... And so the
: entertainment industry will have to work actively towards
: innovation on all fronts. New models worth developing, for
: example, are those that seek to achieve commercial
: diversification or that match supply and end-user needs more
: closely. In such a context, criminalizing large parts of the
: population makes no sense. Enforcement should focus on large
: scale and/or commercial upload activities."
:
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