Commission to publish study on Digital Music Consumption on the Internet

A study on Digital Music Consumption on the Internet was published in March by the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission. The study aimed at revisiting music sales displacement in the digital area and analyzing the effect of online music streaming on the legal purchase of digital music.

In conclusion the paper found Online streaming has a stimulating effect on the sales of digital music. While the paper suggests that the result must be interpreted in the context of a still evolving music industry, it indicates that digital music piracy does not displace legal music purchases in digital format. This means that although there is trespassing of private property rights it is unlikely to harm digital music revenues. Finally the study concludes that new music consumption channels (e.g. online streaming) positively affect copyrights owners.

Find full study here.