Another survey suggests filesharers are bigger music purchasers

There's some fascinating data tucked into the Columbia University study of music collections in Germany and the US.

The first, and most important thing to notice, is that people who get a lot of files they shouldn't have tend to have more files that they have paid for.

(This isn't a surprise; we've seen these reports before.)

This, though, is the bit that should make sphincters tighten in offices where music is sold:

Around 79% of 18-29 year olds have music files, compared to only 14% of those over 64.

That, then, means that one in five young Americans have no music collection at all - or at least, none that are digitised.

It could mean that the survey spoke to a surprising number of hipsters who only buy hand-woven vinyl records; or possibly that a lot of American youngsters have become unshackled listeners, happy to just suck down tracks from a streaming service like Spotify whenever they need music.

Or it could just mean that twenty per cent of American young people have decided they don't need to collect music.

That presents one hell of a structural problem if you business relies on people amassing collections of songs.