Post Tagged with: "P2P"

CBC’s Search Engine on the Industry Canada P2P Study

CBC's Search Engine led off yesterday with an interview with me on the Industry Canada study on P2P and what it means for the imminent copyright reform bill. A podcast of the broadcast is available here.

November 9, 2007 — Comments are Disabled — News

Gov’t Commissioned Study Finds P2P Downloaders Buy More Music

A newly study commissioned by Industry Canada, which includes some of the most extensive surveying to date of the Canadian population on music purchasing habits, finds what many have long suspected (though CRIA has denied) – there is a positive correlation between peer-to-peer downloading and CD purchasing. The Impact of Music Downloads and P2P File-Sharing on the Purchase of Music: A Study For Industry Canada was conducted collaboratively by two professors from the University of London, Industry Canada, and Decima Research, who surveyed over 2,000 Canadians on their music downloading and purchasing habits. The authors believe this is the first ever empirical study to employ representative microeconomic data.

The two key findings:

When assessing the P2P downloading population, there was "a strong positive relationship between P2P file sharing and CD purchasing. That is, among Canadians actually engaged in it, P2P file sharing increases CD purchases." The study estimates that 12 additional P2P downloads per month increases music purchasing by 0.44 CDs per year.
When viewed in the aggreggate (ie. the entire Canadian population), there is no direct relationship between P2P file sharing and CD purchases in Canada. According to the study authors, "the analysis of the entire Canadian population does not uncover either a positive or negative relationship between the number of files downloaded from P2P networks and CDs purchased. That is, we find no direct evidence to suggest that the net effect of P2P file sharing on CD purchasing is either positive or negative for Canada as a whole."

Bear in mind, this is not a study with a particular desired outcome or sponsor – it is the government commissioning independent research to help it make better policy decisions. The results of that research, consistent with earlier Canadian Heritage sponsored study by Shelley Stein-Sacks that refused to blame P2P for the industry's problems, is that P2P actually increases CD sales since those that download also tend to buy more music.

November 2, 2007 — 187 comments — News

CRIA Granted Leave to Intervene in iPod Levy Case But Court Doesn’t Want To Hear About File Sharing

The Federal Court of Appeal on Friday granted CRIA's request to intervene in the private copying/iPod levy judicial review, a case that openly reveals the divisions between CRIA and the Canadian Private Copying Collective (CRIA is on the board of CPCC but the CPCC objected to its intervention request). CRIA's Graham Henderson identified seven objections to the Copyright Board decision:

October 29, 2007 — 3 comments — News

Denmark Music Industry Considers Legalized File Sharing

Andy Oram reports that Denmark's version of the RIAA (or CRIA) is considering a proposal to allow for unlimited, legalized music downloads in return for a monthly fee levied by ISPs. Similar proposals have been floated in Canada and the U.S., but rarely embraced by the recording industry itself.

October 23, 2007 — 2 comments — News