The music industry often pigeon holes the Internets as a bastion for thieving, good-for-nothing lowlifes that continue to suckle off the teat of hardworking six figure executives struggling to put food on their tables.
A recent article from BBC News finally puts an end to this long drawn out debate, as a recent study has concluded that the same people who engage in peer-to-peer file sharing are more likely to spend larger amounts of money on music than the common shmo.
According to the completely unscientific study, 1 out every 10 people interviewed admitted to illegally downloading music.
However, roughly 80 percent of those same people also claimed to regularly purchase CDs, vinyl, and MP3s
Interestingly enough, the spending habits of the average file sharer was calculated at $126, almost twice as much as law-abiding citizens ($72).
Participants in the study also noted that the ideal price for MP3s is $.75 per track.
“Politicians and music companies need to recognize that the nature of music consumption has changed and consumers are demanding lower prices and easier access to music,” said British researcher Peter Bradwell.
Everyone’s favorite illegal file sharing provider, Pirate Bay, has come under the scrutiny of Swedish lawmakers, who sentenced each of the websites primary founders to a year in prison for their part in turning the internets into “a sort of Somalia of unregulated theft and piracy” (Thank you, Andrew Lloyd Webber).