Charles Arthur, the Guardian's technology editor, says: "We saw the release last week of some 'research' that said 7 million people 'use' illegal downloads in the UK, 'costing the economy billions of pounds and thousands of jobs'" (Filesharing isn't music's biggest foe, 11 June). He points out that these numbers don't stack up - that you can't equate every illegal download with a "lost sale"- and asks why the music industry keeps putting them forward.
Writing as chief executive of UK Music, the umbrella body representing the commercial music industry, the simple answer is: we didn't. The report referenced came from the Strategic Advisory Board for Intellectual Property (Sabip) - an advisory board to the Intellectual Property Office. This was not focused solely on music, but on digital consumption across Britain's creative economy.
To prove that the impact of filesharing on the music business has been overstated, Arthur produces retail sales figures for music, games and DVDs since 1999. "I decided to start from the premise that downloads are not lost sales; that instead there's only a limited amount of short-term spending cash available to people ... That instead of buying music, they choose to spend it on other things."
Of course music faces intense competition for wallet share from games, movies and a host of others. It's a fact of digital life that the switch from physical to online purchasing results in revenue displacement - something most newspaper proprietors would acknowledge.
The music business is embracing these challenges. Music has never been so accessible or affordable. The UK has more licensed digital music services than any country in Europe. Fans can download MP3s for as little as £0.29, or use streaming services like Spotify or We7 for free. Universal Music recently announced plans for the world's first unlimited download subscription service.
However, to deny that a totally free, unregulated peer-to peer ecosystem - which redirects revenues from UK creators, artists and entrepreneurs towards Pirate Bay and other unlicensed businesses - has a negative impact on jobs is illogical.
Arthur concludes that such a correlation is "idiotic". "The music industry's deadliest enemy isn't filesharing - it's the likes of Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony, and a zillion games publishers", all of whom persuade consumers to spend £40 on a game as opposed to a "CD for £10 containing two good tracks and eight somewhat less inspiring efforts".
Such stereotypes do his argument no favours. The UK leads the world in terms of musical diversity and creativity. British artists and the UK's music business are innovating and experimenting. We want to work with music fans and have them use legal, licensed services.
We are not alone in this dilemma. Every copyright-based business has been affected by online distribution and online power-shifts. Music was the first; we are moving forward, but none of us have a monopoly on the challenges, opportunities or solutions.