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The Pew Internet survey 'Artists, Musicians and the Internet' reveals that artists are playing a canny game around the issue of file-sharing.

Of paid artists, 55 per cent believe that it should be illegal for Internet users to share copyright material over the Internet, compared with 35 per cent that believe it should be legal.

However, who should be collared is an even muddier issue. More felt that the companies running these services should be targeted than their users, and 60 per cent felt than the litigation by the RIAA against end-users would have little impact on their fortunes.

Indeed, half were clear that copyright was more beneficial to the publishers and sellers of works, rather than the creators. And two-thirds of paid artists wanted to wrest copyright control back to themselves. In short, it seems that artists feel somewhat disenfranchised by current copyright law and view the issues of file-sharing more from the perspective of a consumer than a copyright-holder.

Two-thirds of musicians polled didn't see file-sharing as a threat in the first place and less than a third of paid artists thought that the

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phenomena is a major issue. Indeed 87 per cent of musicians said they posted their music online to help draw attention, and 83 per cent offer free samples online.

While most artists agreed that granting untrammelled access to copyright media files should be illegal, more restricted copying (whether for backup or to send to a friend) was not such an issue. Nearly half - 47 per cent - of musicians thought that burning a CD for a friend should be legal.

Of course, sharing music is one thing, as songs are something you listen to over and over again, so a copied music CD may encourage the recipient to either buy the original or go on to compensate the artist in other ways, such as by purchasing other albums, related goods or going to concerts.

Of the artists that download media files for free, this is the argument they use to justify the practice. Although it won't cut any ice with the RIAA. Around 22 per cent artists say they download music, and 17 per cent say they download movies - around the same level as cosumers. 86 per cent of these artists say they don't pay for their downloads and more than half say they can't tell if it's legal to do so.

But for films, which cost much more to create and, having watched once, offer far little impetus to set aside a couple of hours to watch again, copying is more important. Not least because the team behind the movie often has a stronger hold on the copyright. Although the survey doesn't break the figures out to pin down movies, one would expect the movie industry to take a far dimmer view of sharing than musicians.

For the full survey, visit the Pew Internet website.