Being the upstanding stalwarts of the interwebs that we clearly are, it’s with a keen eye that ITM has been following the twists and turns in the illegal downloading saga. This year alone we’ve seen the US government slap Kazaa savvy grannies with exorbitant fines, British authorities threaten to cut off file-sharers internet, as well as a handful of artists offering their take on the situation, like Big Day Out pop starlet Lily Allen, who slammed illegal downloaders for forcing artists into label debt.

Well the great file sharing debate is continuing to spiral forth, and the latest artist to pipe up and enter the fray with their opinion is none other than Poker Flat wizard Steve Bug. The German producer recently spoke out on the issue of file sharing, criticising other artists in support of downloading by saying “if you think it’s ok that 20,000 people download your music for free, then you should pay the labels to release your music!”

Yet Bug’s recent comments are in stark contrast to the findings from a recent Times Online study, which set out to discern if artists had indeed suffered during the file sharing boom of the last five years. The Times piece seemingly rebuffed Allen and Bug’s remarks, finding that in the wake of illegal downloading, artist revenue has actually increased substantially.

According to the report, although recorded revenue going to record labels has noticeably declined since 2004, artists (at least those in the UK) have enjoyed greater revenue streams, firstly from PRS revenue – who collect money for music played in public – and through the live arena. Indeed, live performance revenue has risen sharply (for both artists and promoters) in the last five years, with artists taking in nearly double the amount of cash they did previously.

The figures – which you can see over here – seem to reflect what many have been saying about the file sharing dilemma, that whilst it may spell trouble for the big labels, it could indeed be a good thing for artists. One need only look at an artist such as Girl Talk, the mash-up maestro who essentially gave away his last album Feed The Animals when he asked fans to pay what they like for the record. With a myriad of uncleared samples on the record, the record would’ve been a label’s nightmare, yet Girl Talk efficiently bypassed that system, spread the material in a far-reaching manner, and now tours relentlessly around the world, including Australia where he’ll rub shoulders with Ms Allen herself on the Big Day Out tour.

It’ll certainly be interesting to see where the file sharing storm rolls onto from here, but as always, inthemix will be following it closely.