Survey Shows Huge Demand for Legal P2P
Written by Ernesto on June 16, 2008A recent study on the music consumption habits of today’s youth shows that most of them download music illegally. However, music is more popular than ever and 80 percent of the participants indicate that they would pay for a legal filesharing service, if only one was available.
The survey, conducted by British Music Rights among 773 British respondents between the age of 14-24, shows some interesting results. The survey tapped into the music consumption habits of young people and results suggest that most of them would be interested in paying for a decent “legal” filesharing service.
Technology has made it easier for everyone to enjoy, and share music. The Internet has changed the way people interact with music. Sites like OiNK made it easy to find and share virtually every piece of music ever produced. Services like last.fm made it easy to discover new artists and interact with other fans.
Music might be more popular than ever among today’s youth. Indeed, the survey shows that the vast majority of the younger generation owns an MP3 player nowadays, including up to 93% of 14-17 year olds. If people had to pick three items to take with them to a desert island, 73% would take their music collection.
For most participants these music collections are acquired illegally, as the study shows that 63% - nearly two-thirds of the respondents - use filesharing services to download copyrighted music. On average they download 53 tracks a month, but some of the heavy downloaders say they download up to 5,000 tracks a month.
The average MP3 collection contains 1,770 tracks but some contained as many as
75,000. The average size of the music collection does not differ among age groups but there is a huge different in the proportion of pirated vs. paid music. The younger participants, aged 14-17, indicated that over 60% of their collection consisted of pirated music, compared to 13% for the age group 25 and up.
The survey also explored whether people would be interested in paid filesharing services that offer licensed tracks. Of all the participants, 73% said they would be interested in such a service and that figure went up to 80% for the people who already use filesharing services.
The respondents indicated that they are most interested in “download to own” services, streaming services are less popular with only 35% expressing an interest. The study further shows that people would continue to buy CDs and visit concerts if they were allowed to share legally, mostly because they want to support certain artists.
British Music Right Concludes from their survey: “There is a terrific opportunity for the music industry to grasp right now. This survey shows just how much respondents love and value music, and
highlights that a significant amount of that value is currently unmonetised.”
We couldn’t agree more with this conclusion, as we have said time and time again. The Internet and filesharing technologies make it possible to make production (of the copies) and distribution costs disappear, yet the prices still don’t change. Why? Because the industry insists on clinging onto its old business models.
The music industry should focus on monetizing filesharing networks instead of bringing them down. Sharing is a good thing and there are tons of possibilities to profit from it.
Previously: Most Popular DVDrips on BitTorrent (wk24)
Next: Azureus is Dead, Vuze Goes Social
38 Responses
Pages: [1] 2 » Show All
Last I knew, P2P was legal in many countries.
Sharing is caring
I say they should allow free downloading for personal use.
ME TO Peter Green
Lets do the time warp.
I demand pre dcma times !
On other news, scientists ran a study and came to the conclusion that Water is in fact WET!
with all the free music online youtube and everywhere else who needs to use p2p anyways? you can find albums without bitorrent or limewire. you just got to look, imeem last fm and others. if you search hard enough you can find anything.
Its not like they can’t stop selling cds… If they diddnt create thousands of excess cds they probably wouldnt lose so much..
@ adam… You are completly correct.. Its scary what my nieces can do with youtube…
@ #1 (Strange..) The music industry is holding on… The Canadian DMCA is one of their latest efforts.. If this continues we will have no countries left lol..
Just remember all… The Pirate Bay will never die…
Long Live P2P!…
If something like OiNk existed for a reasonable fee (all different formats and all) I would gladly pay for it. However, the music industry believes it is fine for me to pay $15 for a CD, which I don’t want due to the general annoyance of it (I’m always on the run and I don’t have anywhere to store them). Or I can pay $10 for a shitty MP3 rip. I want LOSSLESS rips that are PERFECT and affordable. Until then, the RIAA can kiss my money goodbye.
Indeed, it is the control that is just terrible. People should be able to do what they want with their music files, including edit, redistribute, mix, or in some other way CHANGE and show to others. The music industry doesn’t seem to get it.
If something like OiNk existed for a reasonable fee (all different formats and all) I would gladly pay for it. However, the music industry believes it is fine for me to pay $15 for a CD, which I don’t want due to the general annoyance of it (I’m always on the run and I don’t have anywhere to store them). Or I can pay $10 for a shitty MP3 rip. I want LOSSLESS rips that are PERFECT and affordable. Until then, the RIAA can kiss my money goodbye.
+1 :)
It needs to be DRM free too & FLAC!
Let me answer the questions:
How many tracks is your music collection? About 30 000.
How many is aquired legal? I’d say 0,01%.
Would you pay for a legal service? No way. What I would do would have been a monthly fee to get access to a service where I can download for free.
I agree with this one hundred percent. The only reason “pirate” communities exist is because they are filling a gap in the market. I made a film about this as part of my uni degree this year. Its called “SharingMusic” and is about the past present and future of the music industry. Check it out at google videos if you’re interested.
‘and there’s lots of possibilities to monetize it?’
Sharing is caring, is free. If its monetized, its not sharing, closest is SELLING a copy using file sharing PROTOCOL, not sharing!
Get your words right!
@sharing, you said it brother.
@Peter Green, many people have been saying that for years, problem is the right people dont hear it or choose to ignore it.
@Jolidog, LOL, thanks…i needed that!
Just feels like we have been shouting from the towers for ages telling these morons they can have our money… but instead of 15 bucks stright up by one guy buying their product and 40 ignoring it they get the same 15 bucks by 20 taking it and fewer ignoring it… but noooooo they want to make a killing at it _NOW_ and want us to buy their CDs which just takes up damn space.
Plus they would even save on distribution and physical manifacturing costs because its online, plus it would be good for the environment…
Anyway, why am i repeating something we all know… maybe coz its just so feking frustrating.
cheers!
http://www.eZee.se - Copyright is copyWRONG
P2P is legal and has never been against the law.
The files on P2P are illegal.
Misleading headline.
@ 9:
I agree with you :)
Just had to say
If a company does come out with “legal” p2p they will most likely end up capping the amount of songs you are allowed to download anyways…
They have a wonderful money-making system right in front of their faces and refuse it. Idiots.
I believe in free alternatives to CDs and tapes just as there’s always been. In the digital age, the internet and file sharing make that possible.
If the law required that I pay for that; a reasonable amount like say 50c an album, then I would pay it. Even at that rate I wouldn’t be able to afford much, since I am poor and its already hard enough just to survive, with the existing costs of being online also.
However, the music industry already extorts money through various PC related channels, and besides, all the millions they’ve scammed from litigation and ripping off artists more than covers the value of p2p activity, so the leeches deserve to have it taken off them, not constantly streamed in.
I’d like some legal music sharing, if the music industry doesn’t get any of my money. Only people who get my money are the artists if I happen to like them.
@12. Why would you pay for that when it’s probably still called illegal, and only offers you peace of mind and a false sense of security?
It’s not about money. It’s about control. The **AA’s want to CONTROL the people by controlling the music.
They did a pretty same survey in Finland some time ago and almost everybody was interested in pay n’ all you can eat service. 80% on the people had downloaded entertainment illegally and every tenth was at sope point the original seeder/releaser. Nothing new here, move along :)
ummm, i certainly wouldn’t pay for a p2p service, i like getting things for free and will continue to do so. ebooks, applications, movies, TV shows, music, sheet music - i can get it all with torrents. why would i want to pay for it? i will never ever pay for a computer file, there will ALWAYS be a way to get stuff for free and i will ALWAYS take that option, no-one should be suckered into paying for digital music and video. i feel sorry for and pity those who buy all their music from itunes. if i’m going to buy music i’ll either buy a ticket to see a live show or buy a vinyl (or CD if the vinyl ain’t available).
Pages: [1] 2 » Show All
Responses are closed
All remaining responses will continue to be archived. Use the TorrentFreak forums if you want to discuss something.