"Round #1 Of The Digital Intellectual Property Wars: Economic Fundamentals, Not Piracy, Explain How Consumers And Artists Won In The Music Sector" Mark Cooper, Director Of Research, Consumer Federation Of America Fellow, Center For Internet And Society http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/node/5916 Abstract: v. qui sotto. Citato da Larry Lessig in "Remix" (nota 32 al Capitolo 5). ciao, juan carlos ABSTRACT Piracy may have been the solvent that dissolved the glue of an anticompetitive, anti- consumer market structure, but its magnitude has been vastly overestimated by the industry and the transformation of the industry is perfectly consistent with economic theory. With the advent of digital technologies, three quarters of the cost of producing a CD come under severe pressure. The fixed costs of distribution all but disappear and intermediary functions of promotion are transformed. The effort by record companies to keep singles out of the market and to keep CD prices high was a bald effort to use market power to prevent consumers from enjoying the benefits of more efficient distribution that would flow to them in a competitive market. The benefits were huge. The number of units purchased by the public has more than tripled – but the vast majority of units sold are singles and most are not owned by record companies. The average price per unit shipped has declined by 70 percent. Gains in consumer surplus are close to $6 billion in 2007 alone. The vast majority of artists were beneficiaries as well. Comparing the sales claimed by record companies to the sales claimed by digital distribution companies, it appears that for every single sold by a record company there are three additional songs sold by an unsigned artist. Of course, the dominant firms in the tight, music oligopoly and the handful of artists who benefits from the blockbuster/star system have suffered a reduction in the rents they collect.