The RIAA has tried to sue those who download music illegally. They have labeled them pirates and criminals, even when they're only 13. A better label for these people might have been to call them the biggest consumers of LEGAL music.
"A report from the BI Norwegian School of Management has found that those who download music illegally are also 10 times more likely to pay for songs than those who don't." - Sean Michaels Guardian.co.ukTo anyone who knows anything about how music fans like to consume music this will be no shock, but to those at the RIAA (who know nothing about music or culture) hopefully this will be a wake up call.
The industry's biggest problem is not sales, it is engaging with music fans to help them discover new music that they want to hear. Radio, the mainstream press and other old systems are failing people who are searching for new songs that are interesting. That is why last week I wrote so favorably of the new filter We Are Hunted. The industry needs to be looking to new ways to get music to consumers and should not write off P2P networks so quickly.
But the RIAA will, sadly, because the bigwigs are too dumb and/or out-of-touch to understand the complex world we live in and they will probably find some reason to discredit this study so they can continue to put pirates in jail instead or work with them.