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> They're probably less than you think. What evidence do you have for this? Every time I want to believe this is true, I meet someone (IRL) who says something

> They're probably less than you think. What evidence do you have for this? Every time I want to believe this is true, I meet someone (IRL) who says something completely blatant like "I just discovered BitTorrent, which is great because now I don't have to pay for movies any more.". (that is a direct quote from someone I met yesterday). Anecdotes aren't data, but where's your non-anecdotal data?

toemetoch 15y ago
Isn't the iTunes Store a valid example? Its users have demonstrated that they'll pay per song instead of buying the entire album. Apparently that's what the consumer wants. Secondly, there is actually a media business on the internet that's flourishing with a pure online model: porn. You can get it for free everywhere, yet people keep paying for it (also online) .
icebraining 15y ago
Study by the Canadian Intellectual Property Policy group: However, our analysis of the Canadian P2P file-sharing subpopulation suggests that there is a strong positive relationship between P2P file-sharing and CD purchasing. That is, among Canadians actually engaged in it, P2P file-sharing increases CD purchasing. http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/ippd-dppi.nsf/eng/ip01462.html http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/ippd-dppi.nsf/eng/ip01462.html Study by the BI Norwegian School of Management: Researchers found that those who downloaded "free" music – whether from lawful or seedy sources – were also 10 times more likely to pay for music. This would make music pirates the industry's largest audience for digital sales. Wisely, the study did not rely on music pirates' honesty. Researchers asked music buyers to prove that they had proof of purchase. http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/apr/21/study-finds-pirates-buy-more-music http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/apr/21/study-finds-pira...
- haberman 15y ago
  Thanks, the first link is great and has a lot of data. It seems to conclude causation when only correlation was observed, but even so it seems to support the idea that there aren't a lot of true freeloaders out there.

toemetoch 15y ago

Isn't the iTunes Store a valid example? Its users have demonstrated that they'll pay per song instead of buying the entire album. Apparently that's what the consumer wants. Secondly, there is actually a media business on the internet that's flourishing with a pure online model: porn. You can get it for free everywhere, yet people keep paying for it (also online) .

icebraining 15y ago

Study by the Canadian Intellectual Property Policy group: However, our analysis of the Canadian P2P file-sharing subpopulation suggests that there is a strong positive relationship between P2P file-sharing and CD purchasing. That is, among Canadians actually engaged in it, P2P file-sharing increases CD purchasing. http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/ippd-dppi.nsf/eng/ip01462.html http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/ippd-dppi.nsf/eng/ip01462.html Study by the BI Norwegian School of Management: Researchers found that those who downloaded "free" music – whether from lawful or seedy sources – were also 10 times more likely to pay for music. This would make music pirates the industry's largest audience for digital sales. Wisely, the study did not rely on music pirates' honesty. Researchers asked music buyers to prove that they had proof of purchase. http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/apr/21/study-finds-pirates-buy-more-music http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/apr/21/study-finds-pira...

haberman 15y ago
Thanks, the first link is great and has a lot of data. It seems to conclude causation when only correlation was observed, but even so it seems to support the idea that there aren't a lot of true freeloaders out there.