OECD dismisses record industry claims
A recent OECD report dismisses the crude logical leap the recording industry makes through persistently claiming online file-sharing being a direct and single cause of faltering CD sales:The number of simultaneous users on all P2P networks reached almost 10 million in October 2004. The United States makes up more than 50% of all simultaneous file-sharing users, with Germany at around 10%, Canada and France at 8%. In principle, file-sharing networks are an innovative technology that finds increasingly useful applications in new services and in authorised file-sharing. However, the use of P2P networks to exchange unauthorised copyright-protected content presents a significant challenge to the music industry and to the enforcement of intellectual property rights. There is currently a considerable volume of copyright infringement that is taking place among users of peer-to-peer networking software. This unfair competition puts pressure on legitimate online music and other content services and may have slowed commercial services that offer access to content online.The Economist reports that the music industry strongly objected to these conclusions, but it only confirms what many of have been saying for some time. P2P may have some impact on music sales but it is by no means the evil that the industry suggests.
Nevertheless, it is very difficult to establish a basis to prove a causal relationship between the size of the drop in music sales and the rise of file sharing. Sales of CDs, as well as the success of licensed on-line music services are likely to have been affected to some degree by a variety of other factors, for example physical piracy and CD burning, competition from other, newer entertainment products and faltering consumer spending in some markets. [p. 11]
posted by Jonas Andersson @ 1:00 pm
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