[p2p-research] Fwd: [fcf_discussion] Piracy and job losses in the EU

[Kevin Carson]

On 3/22/10, Michel Bauwens <michelsub2004 at gmail.com> wrote:

> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: david at davidhammerstein.org <david at davidhammerstein.org>

> JOB LOSSES IN EUROPE AND " ILLEGAL DOWNLOADS": MYTHS AND REALITY

> 2. DIGITAL PIRACY "REASSIGNS" ECONOMIC CONSUMPTION WITHOUT CAUSING A NET
> ECONOMIC LOSS TO ECONOMY.

>  Downloading cultural material means money is spent  instead in other areas
> such as housing, food and services rather than on buying CDs.  The
> alternative expenditures could be more job creating, more productive and
> more socially valuable than spending on digital entertainment materials.
> There can even be a social benefit to spending less on digital entertainment
> and more on other goods. As well, both less money being spent on digital
> entertainment and more downloading can often mean more money spent on live
> performances and theater which benefits performers and creators more
> directly.

I think he's wrong on this particular.  I doubt there's a one-to-one
tradeoff in monetized consumption between reduced expenditures for
music and increased expenditures elsewhere.  Some of the reduced cost
is probably taken in leisure--and some of that involuntarily, in
today's economic climate.  Overall, as Eric Reasons argued, the  rise
of Free means we're probably seeing a net reduction in the total
amount of consumption needs met by monetized expenditure, and the
disappearance of a growing set of needs from the cash nexus.

Of course in the case of the music industry, a disproportionate of the
net loss of monetized consumption is probably suffered by the record
companies, whereas a larger share of what money remains can be
appropriated directly by artists without relying on record company
marketing and finance.  So the dislocation for actual producers, as
opposed to useless eaters, will arguably be mitigated.

That was the subject of this blog post:
http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/abundance-creates-utility-but-destroys-exchange-value/2010/02/02

-- 
Kevin Carson
Center for a Stateless Society http://c4ss.org
Mutualist Blog:  Free Market Anti-Capitalism
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The Homebrew Industrial Revolution:  A Low-Overhead Manifesto
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Organization Theory:  A Libertarian Perspective
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