Comprobado: regalar libros (MP3, películas) no afecta al negocio

Eric Flint tiene un interesante artículo que trata el tema de regalar libros y encriptación de e-Books, demostrando con pruebas tangibles que cuando él ha hecho sus libros libremente disponibles en la Internet, sus ingresos no han bajado, sino que por el contrario, han subido.

O sea, que generalmente cuando un artista publica sus trabajos libremente, tiene una posibilidad mucho mayor de ganar más dinero que de perder algo. Del artículo:

Now, with a year and a half's experience with the Library actually established and running, our original assessment has been demonstrated in practice. The Library's track record shows clearly that the traditional "encryption/enforcement" policy which has been followed thus far by most of the publishing industry is just plain stupid, as well as unconscionable from the viewpoint of infringing on personal liberties.

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Before I move on to my next point, I want to take the time to emphasize the significance of these HARD FIGURES. I stress "hard figures" because those people arguing the "encryption/enforcement" side of the debate NEVER come up with hard figures. Harlan Ellison, for instance, screams that he has "Lost sales!" because of piracy-but, to the best of my knowledge, has never once even tried to demonstrate that this is true. Not once has he done more than endlessly assert the "axiom" that since a title of his was pirated he "must therefore" have lost sales of that title.

I think my hard figures demonstrate how absurd that claim is. It does not follow that simply because a copy is available for free that sales will therefore be hurt. In fact, they are more likely to be helped, for the simple reason that free copies-call them "samplers," if you will-are often the necessary inducement to convince people to buy something.