A recent survey shows that Americans’ download media files from both approved and, well, less approved sources in about equal proportions (found on Smart Mobs ). An even more interesting statistic is that 48% of respondents cited using other sources, such as aim and email, than online stores and p2p networks.
Coupled with that news, what are we to make of recent figures from the RIAA that CD sales are up? Boing Boing has the drawn the obvious conclusion:
So is it possible that CD sales and P2P are decoupled (as all the quantitative, independent research indicates), and that the downturn in CD sales is better laid at the feed of bad business, a bad economy, fewer albums and more things competing for entertainment dollars