Survey Says Artists Don’t Believe P2P Hurts Them

Rueters and The Hollywood Reporter reort that, "Most musicians and artists say the Internet has helped them make more money from their work despite online file-trading services that allow users to copy songs and other material for free…"

"Recording labels and movie studios have hired phalanxes of lawyers to pursue "peer to peer" networks…but most of the artists surveyed by the nonprofit Pew Internet and American Life Project said online file sharing did not concern them much. Artists were split on the merits of peer-to-peer networks, with 47 percent saying that they prevent artists from earning royalties for their work and another 43 percent saying they helped promote and distribute their material. But two-thirds of those surveyed said file sharing posed little threat to them, and less than one-third of those surveyed said file sharing was a major threat to creative industries."