How Piracy Leads to More Hit Music

Now, new research out of Tulane University is the latest to debunk the long-touted claim that illegal downloading is destroying the music business, and takes it a step further. A study conducted by law professor Glynn Lunney and unearthed by TorrentFreak today found that contrary to popular (read: record industry) belief, file-sharing may help promote the creation of new music, not hamper it.

By analyzing the top 50 of the Billboard Hot 100 songs from 1985 through 2013, Lunney found that since the rise of music piracy, there was, unfortunately, less material from new artists.But existing artists produced more hit songs than in the pre-Napster days—enough to outweigh the loss of new names topping the charts. From that, the study concludes that the net result was an overall increase of music creation.