Credit:
The study, which polled 2,000 music downloaders over age 15, concluded that those “who download music illegally are also 10 times more likely to pay for songs than those who don't.” The BI Norwegian School of Management, which conducted the research, confirmed that illegal downloaders actually purchased music by requesting receipts from online music stores like iTunes and Amazon.
This isn’t a new theory – the idea of “try before you buy” has long been an argument for supporters of services like The Pirate Bay, and part the business model we’re now seeing with completely legal and free music on services like MySpace and Imeem that let you listen to full tracks at no charge and then link you to online stores where you can buy them.