As we proceed with our study of the impact of new media, you’ll be hearing the following a lot: copyright was never meant to be a pension scheme for the entertainment industry; the introduction of copyright was intended to foster creativity, to encourage people to create new stuff.

Any study of the impact of so-called piracy on the internet will have to come to the conclusion that creativity is alive and well. In terms of getting paid for 50-75 years for something you once did, maybe not so good. But as I often say, you don’t have to keep paying a plumber for fixing a tap, and a teacher doesn’t collect royalties from every student he/she taught (though that’s not a bad idea).

This report from Ars Technica takes a look at this working paper from two reseachers at Harvard Business School. You’ll note that we’re not dealing here with the standard music or entertainment industry report, using completely made up figures.

There’s essentially no indication that the more challenging economics are slowing down creative content production. In the five years prior to 2007, film production is up 30 percent, album releases have doubled, and book releases are up by two-thirds.