File Sharing and You

This video covers a lot of the issues surrounding file sharing and the music industry. They discuss the various reasons why people download "free" music along with the opposing view from the obligatory major label rep (you're a bunch of evil thieves!) There are also lots of opinions and good ideas from people in different capacities around the industry.

My frustration comes from the same old arguments based on the same lousy data. The major label dude says that his research shows that the majority of Canadians feel that 3/4 of the songs on the last few CDs they bought were good. This is a blatant lie, or he only asked Radiohead fans that just bought the In Rainbows CD. He tries to further debunk the "try before you buy" notion by reminding us that there are 30-second sample clips of nearly every song now. I'd contend that a 30-second clip will not give you any kind of idea of whether you'll like any song. (I mean, 30 seconds is not even a transition for the Mars Volta.)

I've always asserted that peer to peer (P2P) file sharing actually boosts recognition for most bands, not the other way around. This theory is also approached (and somewhat dismissed) by other industry folks.

Anyhow, it's a great bit of research, and it's available for free right here.