Facts & Research
ALL MUSIC FACTS2006 | Piracy Impact
Measuring the Effect of File Sharing on Music Purchases | University of Texas at Dallas
This paper estimates the effect of music downloads on the probability of purchasing music. A simple comparison of means shows that people who regularly download music online are more likely to buy music.
Key Findings
- Peer‐to‐peer usage reduces the probability of a consumer buying music by 30%.
- Without downloads, music sales in 2002 would have been around 7.8% higher.
- According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, album sales grew from $24.1 billion in 1990 to $39.4 billion in 1996 and remained at a high level until 1999. Global music sales began to fall from 2000—2003.
Source: Alejandro Zentner, University of Texas at Dallas
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Related Research
The goal of this paper is to provide a non‐technical discussion of what the academic literatures in economics, marketing, and information systems can tell us about how piracy impacts sales of media products. The vast majority of the literature (and particularly the literature published in top peer reviewed journals) finds evidence that piracy harms media sales.
Key Findings
The papers