Just because I love pointing this type of stuff out. There’s a recent study released that’s touting the rise in piracy. From the Globe and Mail:

MR’s fourth annual Digital Music Survey, which polled 1,700 people in the U.K. last month, suggests that illegal music is more popular than ever before, with 43 per cent of respondents claiming that they are illegally downloading tracks, up from 36 per cent last year and from 40 per cent in 2005.

Using their own numbers and a small assumption (that the sample size in 2007 was the same as the sample size in the past), I calculate the standard error on between their 2005 and 2007 numbers to be 3.3% at the 95% confidence level. Given that 43%-40%=3% we now know that there is no statistically significant difference between the number of people claiming to illegaly download tracks between 2005 and 2007.

So the statement “illegal music is more popular than ever” has been debunked. Thank-you and have a good day.