Sunday, March 27, 2011

How much does music downloading hurt the record industry

The London School of Economics just released this Media Policy Brief on the impact of file sharing on the music industry.  It criticizes the current regulatory framework for file sharing as protecting an outdated business model.  The issue for the recording industry is a complicated one, as the total revenue for the industry is in decline, but the availability of music to consumers is rising, and the purveyors of digital media players could not be happier.

The EFF offers this commentary.  The issue of profit sharing for digital music between artists and labels is also in play as some artists have claimed that selling a digital copy of a piece of music is a "license" not a "sale".  Eminem just prevailed on a lawsuit of this issue.  That lawsuit has far reaching consequences for many artists, as it stands for the proposition that artists should get a much higher percentage of the revenue from digital music sales.

So, the question remains, will people stop downloading music, or will the music industry figure out how to profit from it?

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