The Institute for Prospective Technological Studies examined the online habits of 16,000 Europeans. They also found that freely streamed music provided a small boost to sales figures. The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) said the research was "flawed and misleading".
"It seems that the majority of the music that is consumed illegally by the individuals in our sample would not have been purchased if illegal downloading websites were not available to them," wrote the researchers in their report, Digital Music Consumption on the Internet: Evidence from Clickstream Data.
"Although there is trespassing of private property rights (copyrights), there is unlikely to be much harm done on digital music revenues," they added.
The team analysed data over the course of one year. They also found that music streaming services such as Spotify and Pandora gave a small boost to music sales.
Source: BBC News
