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[STK]
[IN] MUS CPR
[SU] SVY NPT ECO
TO BUSINESS, AND NATIONAL EDITORS:
Phoenix Center Refutes Study Claiming that File Sharing Does Not
Reduce Creation of New Music
WASHINGTON, March 13, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- There are a
growing number of studies which challenge the traditional and
constitutional view of Copyright by arguing that piracy (an
infringement on the exclusive right) has not hurt and, possibly even
helped, professional artists and performers. In a new economic
analysis released today entitled What is the Effect of File Sharing on
the Creation of New Music? A Critical Review of "A Case Study of File
Sharing and Music Output", Phoenix Center Chief Economist Dr. George
S. Ford reviews one such study by Tulane University Law Professor
Glynn Lunney, Jr. and finds that Dr. Lunney's analysis suffers from
defects so severe as to render it useless for guiding public policy.
In particular, Dr. Lunney argues that "file sharing has not reduced
the creation of new original music" based on the correlation of music
sales over time to the appearance of "new artists" appearing at the
top of Billboard's Hot 100 chart. As Dr. Ford demonstrates, however,
given the ever-changing definition of the Hot 100 chart, any observed
changes in the composition of the chart over time are as likely to be
a consequence of the Hot 100's changing definition as it is file
sharing. Accordingly, the Hot 100 is a meaningless measure of music
output over time.
Dr. Ford also demonstrates that Professor Lunney uses improper
statistical procedures and, by his own analysis, all of Professor
Lunney's results disappear once the proper estimation method is
applied. Moreover, putting aside the many severe statistical defects
of Professor Lunney's study -- many of which are detailed by Dr. Ford
-- Professor Lunney's reported results are entirely consistent with
the expectations of the standard theory of copyright: Piracy reduces
the creation of new works.
"The general principle that payment to producers encourages production
is, so far as I know, not under attack in any venue except copyright,"
said Dr. Ford. "Claims of special and unique circumstances in
intellectual property require extraordinary evidence -- a burden that
Professor Lunney has totally failed to meet."
"Professor Lunney's argument misses the point," said Phoenix Center
President Lawrence J. Spiwak. "The purpose of copyright is not, as Dr.
Lunney believes, to promote exclusively the creation of 'new artists'
and their Hot 100 hit count, but to promote the creation of new works
and other creative output by established artists, new artists, and
even artists that will never have a song appear in the Hot 100 chart
where songs like "What Does the Fox Say?" measure artistic genius."
A full copy of Phoenix Center Policy Perspective No. 14-02: What is
the Effect of File Sharing on the Creation of New Music? A Critical
Review of "A Case Study of File Sharing and Music Output" may be
downloaded free from the Phoenix Center's web page at:
http://www.phoenix-center.org/perspectives/Perspective14-02Final.pdf.
The Phoenix Center is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization that studies
broad public-policy issues related to governance, social and economic
conditions, with a particular emphasis on the law and economics of the
digital age.
Phoenix Center for Advanced Legal & Economic Public Policy Studies
5335 Wisconsin Avenue, NW Suite 440 Washington, D.C. 20015 Tel: (+1)
(202) 274-0235 Fax: (+1) (202) 318-4909 E-mail:
info@phoenix-center.org Web Page: www.phoenix-center.org Twitter:
@lawandeconomics
SOURCE Phoenix Center
-0- 03/13/2014
/CONTACT: Lawrence J. Spiwak, +1 (202) 274-0235
/Web Site: http://www.phoenix-center.org/
CO: Phoenix Center
ST: District of Columbia
IN: MUS CPR
SU: SVY NPT ECO
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