Internet Piracy Sails On

"The report said it is difficult to establish a causal connection between the rise of file sharing and a drop in music sales. While the music industry’s revenues fell 20 percent from 1999 to 2003, other factors, such as illegal CD copying, might have played a role in the decline, the OECD said," according to an article that ran on Wired.com today. "The report recognized the value of fledgling online stores like Apple’s iTunes. Last year represented a "turning point" for legal music downloads, the study said. However, online music distribution only accounted for 1 to 2 percent of music revenues in 2004. The OECD expects to see that climb to 5 to 10 percent of revenues. But growing online sales will depend on expanding catalogs to appease demand and sway illegal downloads, the OECD said. The report also suggested exploring new distribution methods, beyond what the OECD called traditional… transactions."

Read the article.