Recording Agent: Music industry representatives often advanc

Question

Recording Agent: Music industry representatives often advance the claim that “online file sharing,” (which allows someone who purchased a music CD to share contents with others using their computers—at no additional cost), hurts their business.
Since the advent of file sharing, however, music CD sales have actually risen; therefore, file sharing does not hurt the music business. In fact, file sharing seems to have had a positive effect on the music industry.

The argument above is most vulnerable to criticism on the grounds that it

A. is a circular argument, assuming what the argument sets out to prove

B. defies common sense, since people will not pay for music they can acquire for free

C. fails to specify how much music CD sales have risen since the advent of file sharing

D. assumes a causal relationship between variables with a high correlation without examining other potential factors

E. denies the legitimacy of a claim on the basis of the bias interest of those (music industry representatives) making the claim

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Official Answer

D

shashankism · Answer

Basically the question stem says that the Music industry representative claims that "online file sharing" hurts their business. But CD sales has actually risen with the advent of file sharing. 
So it is basically forming a causal relationship. But the author is not considering other reasons which might have caused the CD sales to rise.

Answer D

Chef · Answer

Hi, Can you please elaborate the causal relationship in the prompt above clearly?

Thanks!

arif24 · Answer

Casual relationship here basically is that first the author says that CD industries got hurt by the online means what author intentionally want to say that CD sales got decrease because majority of people won't buy it as they get it for free so "CD sales have decrease because of online file sharing "
And then author claims that it has positive impact which means it because of more sharing CD industries have increases their CD sales

So casual relationship between variables means the more online sharing the more CD industry will get benefited which you can't consider to be the sole cause as their might some other factor as well might discounts on CDs, etc which could be the factor which author fail to consider by considering such high correlation " because of more sharing which indirectly means it has increases the CD sales "

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TheGraceful · Answer

GMATNinja ,  VeritasKarishma ,

Please help. Not getting what's going on here.

AndrewN · Answer

Hello, everyone. I enjoy user-made questions, or at least questions that appear to be generated by members of the community. This one kind of reminds me of a  boldface  question, since that passage type often uses jargon in the answer choices that sounds as if it belongs on the LSAT instead of the GMAT™, but anyway... We need to find a way to  weaken  this argument, in as many words. What does the passage have in store for us?

If you are unsure what a  circular argument  might be, the latter half of the answer choice defines it for you. Does this passage assume what  the argument sets out to prove ? Well, what is the argument? The conclusion is that  file sharing  seems  to have had a positive effect on the music industry . For this argument to be circular, we would expect this position to be stated or implied from the get go. Instead, we are presented with a claim that represents the other side. What follows in the second line is the evidence used to back up the conclusion:  music CD sales have actually risen  since file online sharing began. The logic thus appears to be linear, with the passage presenting a claim, then evidence that goes against that claim, and finally a conclusion that is rooted in that evidence. In short, this argument is not circular in nature.

Although I did not highlight it, the beginning of this answer choice seems a bit off to me, perhaps a little too casual, or not what I would expect to see on the GMAT™. At any rate, the reason offered for why the argument  defies common sense  is directly refuted in the passage. If  music CD sales have actually risen  since the  advent of file sharing , then apparently people  will   pay for music they can acquire for free . End of story.

The logic of the argument is that because CD sales have risen since online file sharing began, the claims made by music industry reps to the contrary are false. We do not need an exact figure to qualify the point being made. Sure, such a figure might add weight to the force of the evidence, but this is not the  most vulnerable  element of the argument. Eliminate this answer choice and look for an option that stands out among the remaining two.

The old  correlation, not causation  theme. This makes sense. The argument is built upon a single fact, that CD sales are up since the advent of online file sharing, so music industry reps must be wrong when they claim that online file sharing  hurts their business . There could be any of a number of factors that the argument is  not  taking into account that could prove worthy of consideration, such as the possibility that the typical CD-purchasing population has increased significantly since the dawn of file sharing, or, similarly, that the percentage of CD buyers within this demographic has dropped significantly. There are plenty of ways to fill in the blank, but this particular argument points to a single fact and claims proof positive against the claim advanced by the music industry reps.

Nowhere does the argument mention that those within the music industry have a vested interest in boosting CD sales, so that of course they will claim that such sales are down. Although that is an angle a counterclaim  could  take, this argument takes a different angle altogether, looking to present evidence that runs counter to that claim.

There you have it. Since four out of five answer choices can be disproved without too much effort, the clearcut winner is (D). I will admit to treating these questions with care, since I dislike legalese and feel as if many such questions have less to do with reasoning and more to do with specialized vocabulary, but again, these sorts of answer choices pop up frequently in certain GMAT™ question types, so it is probably better to bite the bullet, learn a few terms, and practice.

I hope that helps. If anyone has further questions, I would be happy to discuss this one further.

- Andrew

Paras96 · Answer

The argument is most vulnerable to criticism on the grounds that it:

D. assumes a causal relationship between variables with a high correlation without examining other potential factors.

The argument assumes that because music CD sales have risen since the advent of file sharing, file sharing must have had a positive effect on the music industry. However, it does not consider other potential factors that could have contributed to the increase in CD sales. There may be other reasons, such as changes in consumer preferences, marketing strategies, or economic conditions, that could explain the rise in CD sales. Therefore, the argument is flawed in its assumption of a direct causal relationship between file sharing and increased CD sales without considering other possible explanations.

VerbalBot · Answer

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Recording Agent: Music industry representatives often advanc

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