How Bad Is Music File Sharing? – Part 17

Michel’s working paper is based on 4 chapters of his dissertation thesis entitled “A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis of the Impact of the Digital Age on the Music Industry”. In addition two articles in the Review of Economic Research on Copyright Issues are also based on the findings of the dissertation thesis. Michel constructed a model of interactions between artists, record labels, and consumers, which suggests that file sharing may have been undertaken by consumers who were previously not in the market for music. In order to test his model, Michel provided evidence, based on Consumer Expenditure Survey (CEX) data, that “(…) file sharing decreased CD sales by about 4 percent, though the estimate is statistically insignificant” (Michel 2005: 30).