I wonder how much of the music being stolen on the internet really translates into lost revenue. My gut feeling is college and highschool students are responsible for most music downloads and they don't typically have the money to buy all the music they want. But these people typically grow up and get jobs and start purchasing music on iTunes (or Amazon) because their time becomes more valuable.
Your right about college students, but not high school students. They have the largest disposable income of any age group. Many of them have jobs, many of them get given money by grandma/mom/pop/etc..., but very few of them need to spend money on necessities- almost all of their income goes to consumer goods. This is why so much advertising is targeted at teenagers.
This is also why the internet is going to be death to the parts of the recording industry that cannot (or will not) adapt- the age group that is their biggest customer is also the most internet savvy.
RIAA has been digging its own grave for years now. The faster the music industry implodes, the better it will be for consumers and more importantly, artists.
What is going on with Business Week? I have to click five times to read the whole article and more than half of the page is crammed with ads and links.
