“In particular, “country” music is almost unknown. My guess as to why is that those types don’t understand computers.”

Ignorance is bliss.

OOTB is as blissful as they come.

If your in the business of selling things to people, file sharing sites are quite good for market analysis.

If you’re into selling country music to people, then the lack of country music on file sharing sites, would suggest that those are not a good avenue to advertise on for your target market.

Oh, and there are many other file sharing sites with different files. Did you search pirate-bay japan in japanese? They may have more Japan pop culture than the US directed english sites. There are many facets to the internet, many of which are limited by languages.

“You’ll be hard pressed to find on file-sharing sites any music files that aren’t hipster, heavy metal, nerdish, computer-geekish in general.”

I see, but are you actually searching? Or just looking at what’s popular? Also, what file sharing sites are you searching? There are genre specific sites, there are general search sites, etc.

See what I’m getting at here? What you find is determined by where and how you look. And not finding something DOES NOT necessarily mean there is a lack of interest in said product.

“In particular, “country” music is almost unknown.”

I just looked at a bunch of random sites I’ve heard of or read about. Know what I found? LOTS of country music. So again, where are you looking and what are you looking for. I found some insanely old stuff, recent releases, and everything in between.

“My guess as to why is that those types don’t understand computers.”

You know what I call that comment? Projection. YOU don’t understand computers, nor people in general.

“Anyhoo, what’s visible in file-sharing is a quite narrow segment of overall US and world taste.”

If you’re a U.S. citizen, yes. However, there are sites aimed at certain areas of the world, which you may not know about based on your location. So again, where you’re looking and what you’re looking for will determine what you find or don’t.

However, whatever is popular in the U.S. or particular global markets will almost always be found on any site in general. This isn’t news. (Except possibly to you.)

“I’m sure to be contradicted, but skimming The Pirate Bay should set you right.”

You’re sure to be contradicted because you’re only looking at one site, and because you’re usually wrong on nearly every single thing you speak about. As is the case here.

“In part that’s because US pop culture dominates.”

Actually, no, it doesn’t. However, it’s easy to see why you would make that assumption.

There is a vast and thriving Bollywood market. Know where you’ll find most related movies and what have you? In India. Know where most Bollywood related websites are found in, unless you happen to know about, India.

See, again, you not knowing about something DOES NOT mean it doesn’t exist. It merely means you aren’t aware of it, but due to your glaring lack of knowledge you present “facts” and make declarative statements about things you know nothing about and couldn’t be more wrong about.

“Point is file-sharing sites reflect little except US pop culture, so it’s not really adequate for market analysis.”

Actually, they reflect much more. A quick trip to any file sharing site and actual searching will show you what people are looking for, a look at the comments will review even more.

Namely, that a large number of things people want aren’t available in formats they want them in, aren’t available in their location, and for a rather surprising number of products… just not available at all (legally).

That tells you quite a bit about what the market wants, and it’s surprisingly not just U.S. pop culture.

“Bottom line is that no, file-sharing doesn’t really help marketing, particularly if the notion of getting it all for free spreads.”

Actually, it doesn’t tell you much if that’s all you’re looking for/at. “People just want it free.” Who doesn’t? But it tells you what they want or what they’re looking for, again, just cause you can’t see it doesn’t mean it’s not there.

In fact, file sharing sites could be a good market indicator. What is popular? What isn’t? What formats are most commonly found/asked for? Etc. All those things are quite helpful in market research. I’m not even in marketing and I realize the importance of all that.

“Your notions start with the same wacky premise and then you hope to make it true by believing really hard, is all.”

Again, what we have here is you projecting something that is more indicative/representative of yourself than anyone here, much less Glyn (who wrote the article).

May I make a suggestion? Take your head out of your ass and realize there is much more going on, in general, than you are aware about. Then, realize that your lack of knowledge/insight is nothing to be proud of and get a f*cking clue before commenting and dismissing things, just because you can’t see the uses for them.

“Anyhoo, what’s visible in file-sharing is a quite narrow segment of overall US and world taste.”

This post is not your strongest effort. It’s very poorly researched, and you have missed the entire point of what Glyn is saying.

Glyn is taking about picking up TV shows based on international success and using Bittorrent to gauge that success. You’re talking about … country music, for some reason.

The most popular music files on torrent sites are international pop-dance music, mirroring Hot 100 charts. And BBC shows are extremely popular in the US, to name one obvious example of very many.

There is one really obvious explanation for why marketing departments AND lawyers look at Bittorrent. The concerns aren’t mutually exclusive. But now I’m arguing both sides.