A fantastic and detailed exploration of the issues from the perspective of a Deep House, Independent, EDM Label.
The second biggest misconception I have run across about piracy is that it does not hurt sales.
The first question I have to ask people when they say this to me is, have you actually done a test to prove this hypotheses?
I have, and from what I have seen, from a small labels perspective is YES without a doubt it effects our sales. I can also say, being involved with a fairly recognizable Deep House producer, that when we take down illegal download sites for him, it can make all the difference between making it into the top 100 and not.
Maybe this does not hold true for all labels or artists, but I can certainly say for my label we have more lost revenue (my estimate would be about a third of what we could be making instead goes to piracy) then we get fans in return for this “free” promotion.
READ THE FULL POST AT DEEPWIT RECORDINGS:
http://deepwitrecordings.wordpress.com/tag/why-music-piracy-hurts-musicians/
The Trichordist 
Thank you for sharing our article. In the years since I have written this, the piracy as actually just gotten worse and I still hold by everything I said about it hurting our sales!
Thank You! For speaking up and speaking out with your experience.