The Pew Internet & American Life Project has issued Artists, Musicians and the Internet , a 61 page report that finally gives a voice to musicians and their views on Internet file sharing and how technology affects the creation, promotion, and distribution of their work. Although the music industry, legislators, and select artists have had much to say about peer-to-peer file sharing, this is the first time that a large collection of artists has been polled on the subject.
In what may come as a surprise to the RIAA and members of Congress, the majority of the 2,755 musician polled say that the Internet has made it possible for them to make more money from their efforts. Nearly two-thirds of them suggest that peer-to-peer file-sharing poses only a minor threat or no threat at all to their livelihoods.