Quote:
Originally Posted by Andrew H.
It's really hard to avoid the conclusion that piracy has likely contributed to at least some of the decline we've seen since 1999, even though there are almost certainly several other factors that will have contributed to the decline, one of was probably the economy.
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Another major factor in the decline might be other media that gets consumed. Not that piracy is no factor (and none in these other areas, too), but there's not only movies, music and books.
People buy a lot of apps, games for different kinds of devices, ringtones (are they in that graph as well?), videos for their mobiles/smartphones and things like that.
Also there's a rather fixed amount everyone can spend. And with everyday costs steeply rising (like costs for rent, energy, food, commuting and the like), that's another factor.
I won't say piracy didn't make a change at all, but I don't think that all of the decline is due to illegal downloading or copying music.