We analyze the role of music downloading on the current downturn in CD sales. We provide 2000-2001 cross-country evidence in support of the claim of losses due to internet piracy made by the music industry. For the U.S. we also assess the potential loss from internet piracy using detailed survey...

Digital products have the property that they can be copied almost costlessly. This makes them candidates for non-commercial copying by final consumers. Because the copy of a copy typically does not deteriorate in quality, copying products can become a wide-spread phenomenon - this can be...