Illegal sharing and downloading continues to have a major appeal for music consumers, in spite of several high-profile litigation campaigns. Two thirds share music and over a third of us have used illegal download networks like Kazaa, Limewire and Soulseek. That’s according to a new report from Entertainment Media Research. The sample comprised over 3,000 music consumers aged 13–60 — 74% of them were under 35 years old. The survey was conducted online, and so naturally refers to internet users rather than the general population.
- 67% share music with their friends, with 15% sharing “a lot of itâ€
- 15% have swapped hard disks or iPod/MP3 hard disks to share music (rising to 17% of legal downloaders and 24% of illegal downloaders)
- 31% use Instant Messenger to share music with the majority downloading and sending
- 33% create compilations to share with friends
- 22% use email to share music
- 50% do at least one of the following activities to share music: use IM, use email, share hard disks or download illegally
Cost was cited as the main reason for sharing music, though most of those surveyed still value physical CD purchases more highly than digital formats, viewing it as the ‘complete package’. The impact of social networks like bebo and myspace on music discovery and consumption is also very high. Among those who were members of these sorts of sites:
- 23% state using these sites has a “massive†or “big†impact on their music purchases
- 49% regularly or occasionally recommend artists to others on these sites
- 57% have “discovered music that I loveâ€
- 31% have purchased downloads or CDs of music discovered on these sites
- 12% regularly download music for free
I would suggest that most people underplay the idea that they are influenced by others in their music tastes. We like to think we form our tastes independently. Therefore, the influence of social networks could be even higher than these figures show.
Podcasts remain a minority activity, with 65% of the sample never having downloaded a podcast. Only one percent of the sample downloaded a podcast on a daily basis. The research also found that demand for mobile phones with a music player outstrips demand for iPods by a factor of almost 2:1.
Share this post:
[…] music, even after the consequences that were brought to Napster. Today, there are nearly 67% of people who share music with there friends, 15% whom share a lot. 22% share music over email, […]