While some in the legacy industries try and argue that “file sharers” are just thieves who do not want to pay for anything, facts (as in peer reviewed studies) stand in their way because study after study has show that File sharers correlate to the biggest buyers!Â
At this point, it’s not a surprise since we’ve covered this in study, after study, after study, afterstudy, after study, after study before, but Joe Karaganis’ recent “tease” of his latest “copy culture” study shows that the biggest “pirates” also tend to be the biggest buyers.
While the industry has produced contrary reports, even the most modest study of them demonstrates that they are completely bogus and without scientific validity. They are frequently based on completely unsourced “information” or anecdotal tales. Let me be clear: there has not been a single, peer reviewed (i.e. credible) study that has shown any loss by any company or individual.
In fact the bulk of the evidence, once you get over the emotional argument of a legacy industry that won’t change, shows that file sharing promotes productions and that file sharers are the best payers. The “problem” is that the legacy industries simply won’t acknowledge that the world has changed and left them behind with their obsolete business models.
Unauthorized file sharing is a business model problem.
Now, as we’ve said before (and will now say again), no one is suggesting in any way that this means there’s a causal relationship between infringement and sales. Not at all. But it does mean that those who focus on “attacking” those who infringe, and labeling them “pirates” and pissing them off with various anti-fan strategies are making a huge mistake. These are people who can and do buy. The focus, instead, should be on providing them with improved legal and authorized ways to get what they want in a format they want. Time and time again, we’ve seen that this is the only real strategy that works long term.