If it's indeed true that there are lies, damned lies, and statistics, then surely all the studies that have been published about the "real" financial effect of P2P file sharing on the music industry fall into the latter category. It seems there's another one to add to the pile. This one was compiled by Capgemini, a consulting company that specializes in helping businesses transition between different technologies.
Capgemini's report, which analyzes falling British music industry revenues since 2004, indicates that nearly the entire difference can be explained by the transition from CDs to downloads and heavily discounted CDs. File sharing is noted as having either a neutral or net positive effect on profits.
Although the report itself is confidential, even if it weren't would we really know anything more than we do now? An organization (Capgemini) attributes market changes to factors related to their expertise. However, this simple explanation doesn't seem to take into account other obvious factors such as competition from movies and video games. It seems that yet another study has just made yet another educated but ultimately flawed guess about what's behind consumer trends.
In reality, the number of factors involved is almost certainly too complex to address in this way, and it still doesn't bring us any closer to answering a much more important question of what the industry can do to increase revenue.
Source: The Register
Although the report itself is confidential, even if it weren't would we really know anything more than we do now? An organization (Capgemini) attributes market changes to factors related to their expertise. However, this simple explanation doesn't seem to take into account other obvious factors such as competition from movies and video games. It seems that yet another study has just made yet another educated but ultimately flawed guess about what's behind consumer trends.
In reality, the number of factors involved is almost certainly too complex to address in this way, and it still doesn't bring us any closer to answering a much more important question of what the industry can do to increase revenue.
Source: The Register
