Who Da Thunk It: P2P is Good!

Here’s some news that will surely drive the Recording Industry Association of America crazy: peer-to-peer filing-sharing is actually good for the music business.

Yup, according to a study by Industry Canada, “music downloads have a positive effect on music purchases among Canadian downloaders”.

And – wait for it – the study was ” unable to find direct evidence that P2P file-sharing either increases or decreases CD purchases in Canada. That is, in our analysis of the whole Canadian population we are unable to find any relationship between the number of P2P music tracks that were downloaded and the number CD purchases”.

So what Industry Canada discovered is the dire warnings that P2P activity is killing the music industry are off the mark. Maybe, just maybe, it’s not P2P that’s hurting music sales but crappy music, over-priced music. When the music industry is trying to shove Britney Spears down the throats of consumers, then perhaps something is not quite right.

Michael Geist, who has been waging a battle against the music industry about P2P, suggests the study makes it clear that “the [music] industry has benefited from P2P and that there is no “emergency” that necessitates legislative intervention.”

Is the Industry Canada going to change the music industry’s thinking? Probably not. In fact, you can expect the music industry to attack the findings, methodology, Industry Canada, etc.

But maybe the study is an indication that it’s time for the music industry to embrace P2P, and figure out how to leverage it rather than wage war against it.