The music industry has been wrangling over the question of whether filesharers buy more music rather than less for years now, without ever reaching a firm conclusion. Some new research in Australia examines different data about people who download music and other media illegally: their income and education. It claims that the likelihood of someone being a pirate increases with their annual household income: from 14% for those in households earning under AUS$40k a year, through 18% for $40k-$60k, 27% for $60k-$100k and 30% for over $100k. Pirates also over-index for university education, while 44% are under 30. “The entertainment industry will probably make the case that pirates are so rich because they’re not paying for a lot of their media. The pirates on the other hand, might argue that pirating makes people smarter,” suggests TorrentFreak. We’d suggest not, because both arguments are poppycock. This seems more about access to broadband and awareness of filesharing technologies being related to income and education.
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