Okay, so maybe it’s not as black and white as that, but still! A new report (via Hypebot) requested from the bi-partisan US Government Accountability Office (GAO) is suggesting some things that our good friends in the RIAA might find interesting. According to the details of the report, piracy does seem to have a negative effect on the US economy, but the data provided tends to come from a lot of industry-funded research. And, well, this research is not always based on sound finance. “Each method (of measuring) has limitations, and most experts observed that it is difficult, if not impossible, to quantify the economy-wide impacts,” the report claims. (I know that it’s shocking to think of the Recording Industry as “faulty” or “inconsistent,” but please just bear with me here.)
And that’s not really the interesting part. The neat thing is that the GAO even found some “potential positive economic effects of counterfeiting and piracy.” And even though Disney has already proved to us all that pirates are totally capable of making serious money (and having perfect teeth), sometimes you just need to hear it from the Guv’ment’s mouth, I guess. According to the study, “consumers may use pirated goods to ‘sample’ music, movies, software, or electronic games before purchasing legitimate copies,” and all of this grazing can potentially lead to “increased sales of legitimate goods” as consumers discover new things that they like.
I know what you’re saying to yourself out there: “How unlike the Record Industry to misjudge something!” Well, give them a break. There’s a first time for everything, right?
