You wouldn’t download a car, would you‽ Piracy is stealing, as many old films say, but is it really that bad? Studies have shown it to have negative effects on the economy, but there are many benefits. Despite the fact piracy costs the economy 12.5 million dollars annually, music sharing sites such as Spotify, torrentZ or bitTorrent actually benefit the music industry by doing no harm to artists, increasing all album sales, and improving the general quality of music. Many people claim that piracy is a very negative thing, and many sources agree with that, but even more negate it. 10 time Grammy Award winner Ian Janis states that “There is little evidence that online music sharing is financially harming musicians, and plenty of evidence that
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Author James D. Torr states that leaked albums mean “More sales for musicians that might otherwise never have been heard of” (Torr 5). Record companies still worry, as they don’t notice the extra sales. Torr also states that “the real gripe for these record companies and some artists is the fictional “lost sales,” but the sharing is cheap publicity” (Torr 5 ). The record companies may fret, but they secretly love the publicity. Writer Jason Koebler found that “A new study by a researcher at North Carolina State University suggests that frequently pirated albums sell slightly more copies than one that aren’t” (Koebler 1). Robert Hammond, a researcher from NCSU did many studies and found that “Albums that leaked 30 days in advance were expected to sell a minimum of 60 or more extra copies.” (Koebler 6). Hammond says these numbers are much larger for major-label artists. This research changes a lot, and has the potential to change even more, such as the overall quality of …show more content…
This must seem like a very large sum of money, but economists forget to factor in one thing: the extra sales. The extra sales gained from releasing an album early, based on Hammond’s and many other researchers predictions can provide the economy with anywhere from 15 million to almost 200 million in extra sales. In summary, many people think piracy is bad but it actually supports music and artists in many ways. First, we know is does no harm to artists as there is no evidence for it, but it actually benefits them by helping them out with manipulative record labels. Second, it also increases, sales, ranging from anywhere between 60 extra sales from a month early release, to up to 400 times that number of sales, depending on how popular the artist is. Lastly, piracy can, and lately, has been improving the general quality of music, due to people being able to listen to and filter out good and bad music and if they actually want to spend money on it or not. Conventional wisdom would assume this is a bad idea, but some record labels have seen that free music sharing can be a whole other avenue for sales in the
Author James D. Torr states that leaked albums mean “More sales for musicians that might otherwise never have been heard of” (Torr 5). Record companies still worry, as they don’t notice the extra sales. Torr also states that “the real gripe for these record companies and some artists is the fictional “lost sales,” but the sharing is cheap publicity” (Torr 5 ). The record companies may fret, but they secretly love the publicity. Writer Jason Koebler found that “A new study by a researcher at North Carolina State University suggests that frequently pirated albums sell slightly more copies than one that aren’t” (Koebler 1). Robert Hammond, a researcher from NCSU did many studies and found that “Albums that leaked 30 days in advance were expected to sell a minimum of 60 or more extra copies.” (Koebler 6). Hammond says these numbers are much larger for major-label artists. This research changes a lot, and has the potential to change even more, such as the overall quality of …show more content…
This must seem like a very large sum of money, but economists forget to factor in one thing: the extra sales. The extra sales gained from releasing an album early, based on Hammond’s and many other researchers predictions can provide the economy with anywhere from 15 million to almost 200 million in extra sales. In summary, many people think piracy is bad but it actually supports music and artists in many ways. First, we know is does no harm to artists as there is no evidence for it, but it actually benefits them by helping them out with manipulative record labels. Second, it also increases, sales, ranging from anywhere between 60 extra sales from a month early release, to up to 400 times that number of sales, depending on how popular the artist is. Lastly, piracy can, and lately, has been improving the general quality of music, due to people being able to listen to and filter out good and bad music and if they actually want to spend money on it or not. Conventional wisdom would assume this is a bad idea, but some record labels have seen that free music sharing can be a whole other avenue for sales in the