A recent survey conducted by Professor Peter DiCola of the Northwestern University School of Law revealed that only 6% of artists’ revenues come from music sales.



The study covered 5.000 musicians, all residents of the US, and investigated different subjects, including unauthorized file-sharing. It turned out that about 1/4 of the respondents agreed that digital piracy worsened things for them, while another 1/4 claimed file-sharing helps them. The remaining half of respondents had no opinion or declined to answer.

In addition, the research emphasized that music piracy had an insignificant impact on musician’s income. The researcher found out that only 6% of the average income of an artist came from recorded sales. In the meanwhile, live performances are regarded as a much better source of revenues, as they account for 28% of the total income.

The results of the research convinced experts that the existing copyright legislation is a blessing for the highest earners. Indeed, instead of providing marginal incentives to create to all artists, copyright legislation mostly affects the revenue of the highest-income musicians in a direct fashion. That’s a common thing for the content industry, given the prevalence of winner-take-all markets. However, it doesn’t mean that copyright legislation should be ignored or revoked, because many of those musicians, including composers, rely on them.

The researcher pointed out that musical creativity can take a number of forms, not only the kinds that copyright legislation protects. Nevertheless, this broader perspective shouldn’t obscure the reliance on copyright for artists in some subgroups. Content creators who focus their activity on composing usually rely on composition revenue and are therefore very vulnerable to harm from copyright piracy. This is also true for recording musicians relying on sales of music records.

It is unclear what is going to happen from now on to the entertainment industry and its relationship with the artists. The only thing is known thus far – the ever increasing number of talented artists, composers, musicians, and indie bands will make a visible change in this area.