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Downloading pirated music from the Internet has had almost no effect on real world sales, say researchers from Harvard Business School and the the University of North Carolina.
Source: http://www.internet-magazine.com/news/view.asp?id=3972
Their recent report effectively discredits record executives who claimed that the progressive slump in music sales can be linked to the rise in online piracy.
The researchers studied the most heavily downloaded songs to determine if there was a measurable drop in legitimate sales. They discovered that filesharing actually increases sales for popular albums - those that sell more than 600,000 copies. They found that for every 150 illegal downloads, legitimate CD sales of that album are increased by one copy.
One of the researchers, Felix Oberholzer-Gee, Associate Professor at Harvard Business School said, "From a statistical point of view, what this means is that there is no effect between downloading and sales."
For less popular albums, the researchers explained that their "most pessimistic" statistical model showed pirate music downloads caused two million fewer CD sales in 2002 - totally at odds with the decline of 139 million CDs that the record industry attributes to filesharing.
The RIAA\'s Amy Weiss disagreed with the researchers\' findings. She said, "Countless well respected groups and analysts, including Edison Research, Forrester, the University of Texas, among others, have all determined that illegal file sharing has adversely impacted the sales of CDs". -
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so in other words,
"your study proves me wrong, but I have some of my own research that proves me right, therefore, your study is flawed, and you are wrong." -
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Note that the RIAA didn\'t provide any statistics. Statistics are meaningless in this argument because each side of the debate is going to use their own statistics and criteria until they find data that will support its cause.
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Statistics tend to be meaningless in the majority of arguments if you consider how easily statistics can be manipulated to make a point...
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Originally posted by jocelyn
Statistics tend to be meaningless in the majority of arguments if you consider how easily statistics can be manipulated to make a point...
common wolf, represent! don\'t let them trash talk you like that
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Kent: Mr. Simpson, how do you respond to the charges that petty vandalism such as graffiti is down eighty percent, while heavy sack-beatings are up a shocking nine hundred percent?
Homer: Aw, people can come up with statistics to prove anything, Kent. Forfty percent of all people know that.
Kent: I see. Well, what do you say to the accusation that your group has been causing more crimes than it\'s been preventing?
Homer: [amused] Oh, Kent, I\'d be lying if I said my men weren\'t committing crimes.
Kent: [pause] Well, touche\'.
(season 5) 1F09 "Homer the Vigilante" -