A recently published research paper on the economic effects of P2P file sharing espouses the theory that its ramifications are not evenly distributed among all artists; specifically that more popular songs suffer a negative sales impact while less known artists experience a slight market increase. Furthermore, the report proposes that as file sharing reduces the chance of acts being able to produce blockbuster sales, music labels will be less willing to cultivate new talent due to higher risk and diminished returns.

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The Philoneist Says: When intellectual property is branded and marketed in other products, e.g., music acts can generate income via concert, commercial licensing, and clothing sales, new revenue streams can be introduced which can supplement and increase overall income. MTV proved long ago that music can be more profitable as a commodity than a bartered work of art.