A survey by UK based analyst, The Leading Question, has found that people who use pirate P2P sites, also spend 4.5 times more on legal downloads than other music fans. Typically, they spend £5.52 ($9.16) a month as opposed to the average £1.27 ($2.21).

Ahh, but …… says the quaintly named, British Phonographic Industry, pirates typically spend less than average on CD’s.

Well, they would wouldn’t they? They’re spending all their music money on downloads!

And if average spend is going down, it’s surely because with downloads, you can choose the tracks you really want instead of all the shite stuff that pad out so many CDs.

But the other issue is the dilemma that this should represent for the BPI. Suing these pirates is also tantamount to suing your very best customers, which can’t make much sense, commercially. Supposing, a Marketing Director presented a new campaign to her fellow board directors:

"Well, we’ve analyzed the market and drawn up a list of our top 100 customers. These people represent 50% of our revenues and 80% of our profits. It goes without saying that they’re damned important for the future success of the company.

So, we’ve decided that we’re going to really piss them off by taking them to court."

The fact is that piracy probably wouldn’t enjoy nearly such high usage today if the likes of the BPI had agreed to the entreaties of companies begging them to authorize a legal download service in the closing years of the last century. But suing your customers can never be a sensible business strategy. It simply shows that you don’t understand the first thing about how your industry has changed.

Via The Register. Pic from Talk Like a Pirate. This year TLAP day is September 19th.