After years of bluster and misguided policy from government and the music industry alike, a change in the attitude to file-sharing may be on the horizon thanks to a new survey that shows illegal downloaders actually spend more on music then their straight-as-a-die counterparts.
The Demos poll of 1,000 people between 16 and 50 found that illegal downloaders on average spend £77 a year on music, whereas the rest fork out just £44.
Discovery mechanism
Analyst Mark Mulligan of Forrester Research took the opportunity to highlight a truth policy makers seem unable or unwilling to grasp: "The people who file-share are the ones who are interested in music. They use file-sharing as a discovery mechanism."
Whether or not the Demos findings will have any impact on Peter Mandelson's plans to introduce a US style 'three strikes and you're out' approach to discouraging illegal downloading remains to be seen.
Your comments (11) Click to add a new comment
jlb
November 24th 2009
11. I would challenge your statistical reasoning. Your statistic shows that those who download illegally also purchase more songs. That is likely to be the result of them been keener on music. In terms of copyright infringemnt the statistic that would be of value is how much would that same group of illegal downloaders have spent if they could NOT have illegally downloaded music in the first place. It may be more than 77 pounds. (It may be less!). BUT you cannot infer that it would be less - because another group that don't illegally download music spend less.
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jmd
November 24th 2009
10. liberty1947 - What I was referring to in my previous post was the difference between making an illegal copy of binary data, and denying someone their rightful access to a physical item. We might absolutely call it theft in both cases, but that was not my point. And I am not defending nor bashing illegal downloads. I just point out the difference between those two kinds of stealing. And they are not the same.
"The right to absolute control over one's intellectual property is THE number one most critical of all rights!" - well, that's your opinion, and you are fully entitled to it. I would personally for example place the rights not to be killed, tortured or thrown in jail without a fair trial a bit higher on the list of rights. But hey, that's me. And I guess I'm on another planet than you ;-)
///JmD
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liberty1947
November 24th 2009
9. Regarding post number 7 by jmd:
Uh ... I'm not sure what planet you're on but here is a objectively demonstrable fact: The right to absolute control over one's intellectual property is THE number one most critical of all rights! Theft is theft -- period! Theft of intellectual property is every bit as destructive as theft of physical property. My question for you is, who told you otherwise and why did you choose to believe them?
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incrediblemouse
November 24th 2009
8. <sarcasim>1000 participant survey. This is truly revealing.</sarcasim>
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jmd
November 24th 2009
7. kolson256 - of course it is not the same to download music and steal a Ford Mustang. In the latter case someone is actually loosing that specific car, where as pirating music means you make a copy and the assumed loss is from the potential income if that specific copy was paid for instead. Don't confuse copyright infringement with theft.
///JmD
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mattwilkey
November 24th 2009
6. Now that Spotify gives us the means to listen legally before buying anything, those still illegally downloading are doing it because they want the music for free and aren't helping the industry at all.
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