Study Finds P2P Makes Popular Music More Popular
A study by PRS for Music's Will Page and BigChampagne Media Measurement's Eric Garland, entitled The Long Tail of P2P [PDF file], finds that P2P filesharing only makes popular music more popular — it doesn't lead to the discovery of less well-known artists.
"The study shows that the most pirated songs are almost always at the top of music charts such as Billboard at the same time," writes AfterDawn's Andre Yoskowitz. "The data notes that unsigned and newer bands were neither helped nor hindered by piracy. File-sharing networks have become somewhat of an 'alternative broadcast network' which now rivals radio stations as a way of hearing music."
"The gap between bestsellers and the rest is widening, Page and Garland conclude, a pattern also seen with movie and TV consumption too," writes The Register's Andrew Orlowski. "The authors cite one knock-on effect for live music promoters, who say bands fourth of fifth on a bill are relatively worse off than they were ten years ago. So much for the internet as the great leveller: you literally got lost in the noise."
"The upshot is that all this illegal downloading might not be as bad a thing as we'd all previously thought," writes T3's Adam Bunker. "Lessons to be learned are that the record companies should stop seeing piracy as so much of a threat, and more as a form of advertising."
More here from Wired … more here from Idolator … more here from Music Ally … and more here from BBC News.
I’ve always thought that file sharing helped artists immensely by putting their music out there for the masses to hear. New artists will find a way to cash in on their fame and success by running other companies off of their branding efforts. For example, 50 Cent promotes his albums and asks fans to buy or download the music, he doesn’t care. Then he is known all over the world, and sells clothes, jewelry, even water for a profit! Music industry artists have had it made in the shade for decades. That’s over now. Time for them to get a job like the rest of us.
Fuck you. Just because you’re tone deaf and like 50 cent, doesn’t mean you have to shit on the people who DO have musical talent, and COULD make an honest living out of it.