A new study by the American Assembly at Columbia University has presented more evidence against the copyright lobbyists' claims that pirates are the biggest music ‘thieves,' suggesting instead that those that download the most music illegally, tend to buy the most music as well.

The research analysed the music listening habits of German and American listeners, with the former file sharers found to buy approximately three times the music of their not downloading counterparts. Similarly, though not to the same extent, those in the US that used P2P services bought a third more music than those that don't.

This is part of a growing trend of research that shows the largest media consumers are just so, whether its legal or not. They watch the most movies, listen to the most music and play the most games; splitting their collection between legally purchased materials and those acquired otherwise.

According to Wired, this latest research makes up a portion of the Copy Culture in US and Germany survey, which was designed to explore the habits of both Americans and Germans when it comes to “digital media.”

KitGuru Says: This not only shows that groups like the MPAA and RIAA are wrong about their presumptions of the motivation of a pirate, but that ultimately, the groups are targeting their biggest fans when they hit them with lawsuits and three strikes threats.

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