Actual Artists Don’t Dislike P2P So Much

A new study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project finds that artists and musicians are less antagonistic to P2P than their “industry.”

The conclusions of the study, copied here for artistic, literary, scholarly, and news-reportorial purposes, are:

Artists and musicians on all points of the spectrum from superstars to starving singers have embraced the internet as a tool to improve how they make, market, and sell their creative works. They use the internet to gain inspiration, build community with fans and fellow artists, and pursue new commercial activity.

Artists and musicians believe that unauthorized peer-to-peer file-sharing of copyrighted works should be illegal. However, the vast majority do not see online file-sharing as a big threat to creative industries. Across the board, artists and musicians are more likely to say that the internet has made it possible for them to make more money from their art than they are to say it has made it harder to protect their work from piracy or unlawful use.

As with all studies, there are reasons to be skeptical of this one. Pew allowed some of its sample to self-identify as artists. That is, the performer of macrame-related folk tunes who has never left his bedroom may be an “artist” for purposes of this study. (My interpretive dance inspired by The Economic Structure of Intellectual Property Law might qualify me.)

But the gist of the study is well-taken: Artists benefit from the Internet and see its commercial potential as a benefit to themselves, file-sharing/piracy notwithstanding.

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