A study was done on this question, and it found the effect of piracy on sales is negligible/immeasurably small: https://juliareda.eu/2017/09/secret-copyright-in

A study was done on this question, and it found the effect of piracy on sales is negligible/immeasurably small: https://juliareda.eu/2017/09/secret-copyright-infringement-study/ https://juliareda.eu/2017/09/secret-copyright-infringement-s... The study was done with public funds, but since publishers didn't like its findings, it was buried. So publishers are misusing public money to try and mislead people into supporting more restrictive copyright laws, and they're using lobbying and legalized bribes to get elected officials to pass those laws. They use lies, deception, and bribery in a hostile attempt to reduce our freedom so they can increase their profits. So why the hell should we respect their IP, when every cent they earn will be used against us?