File sharing. Good for the creative industries?
19th June, 2009
A leading pair of economists from Kansas University have presented an argument that suggests that while file sharing may be harmful for some industries, it actually does nothing to alter the incentives of artists and content producers to generate more work. And that, they say, is the reason they believe that we don't need such tight regulation on copyright.
Are they effectively arguing that creativity will survive any amount of file-sharing, but that business models will have to alter to accomodate new technology and piracy?
They demonstrate that although music sales, for example, have dropped in the last seven years, the amount of albums actually produced has actually doubled. Surely an example of the double-edged sword of technology - it's now easier than ever to record your own music, but also to illegally download someone else's.
At Nocci we don't know what the answer is (and we don't believe anyone else knows either), but have your say in this thread in the forum (click in the "post a comment" box on the right hand side to reply), or read more about the full report here.