BPI CEO Responds to Critics on Virgin Media partnership

Some days ago BBC writer Bill Thompson was very critical when talking about the deal Virgin Media close with the British Phonographic Industry which implies that from now on the former will forward letters as the agent of the Great Britain's "sister" of the RIAA. BPI plans through its campaign partly to "educate" broadband internet users about illegal file-sharing. Geoff Taylor, head of the BPI, was prompt with his a response on the organization's site, and as expected it doesn’t show a lot of objectivity:

"Independent research has shown time after time that people who download illegally generally spend less on music than people that don’t, which undermines investment in new music."

However, he fails to reveal any sources for his assertions. With a bit of effort and search we find out that Taylor has got it the other way around. All the studies on the topic apparently came to the same wrapping up and that just wasn’t even close to what Taylor said.

The studies in question prove that those who share music using P2P networks not only purchase music as well but they do it at larger quantities than non-file sharers. Of course, we’re considering that downloaders might be buying less than they would without file sharing networks – nevertheless, the recording industry’s approach (pursuing its most dedicated customers) still indicates narrow-mindedness.