Say file-sharers are “just regular Internet users doing what people should be able to do on the Internet” and reject idea of an ISP tax to compensate music artists.
Yes, another survey.
This time it’s from Angus Reid Strategies which claims to be a "worldwide leader in the use of the marketing research, Internet platforms, rich media technology and virtual reality" which it says allows it "to collect high quality, in depth data for market research and public consultation."
So we may have some datum actually worth considering this time.
A majority of Canadian Internet users see nothing wrong with P2P and file-sharing services, and most react negatively to the notion of a so-called ISP tax that would help to compensate music artists for the losses it allegedly creates.
In the online survey of a "representative national sample," nearly 45% of respondents say those who use P2P and file sharing services to download music and movies are “just regular Internet users doing what people should be able to do on the Internet.”
Pretty interesting right?
An additional 27% admit these people are “doing something they shouldn’t be doing” but say “it’s not a big deal.”
In contrast, only 3% agree with the music industry’s position that file-sharers “are criminals who should be punished by law,” and only 25% feel say “technology should be developed to stop this.”
The survey also indicates that a startling 73% reject the notion of an ISP tax, believing such a levy would represent “an inappropriate and/or unnecessary levy that would be passed down to consumers.”
It also shows that file sharing is fairly prevalent in Canada with some 23% saying they have downloaded music illegally in the past 30 days, while just 12% say they bought music legally online.
Also supported by the survey are studies, one by the Canadian govt itself in particular, that concludes that file-sharers tend to purchase more music than non-file-sharers. For those who downloaded an MP3 file from a free file-sharing service are significantly more likely to say they will buy a CD in the next month (41% vs. 34 % for non-file-sharers), and are more likely to have gone to a concert in the past year (65% vs. 52% for non-file-sharers).
Now even though the music industry won’t listen to any of the study’s conclusions, hopefully Canadian politicians will. For it’s clear that file-sharing is here to stay and it’s high time society faced that reality.
jared@zeropaid.com
Related
- Net File-Sharing Doesn’t Hurt Most Artists – Survey
- Pew File-Sharing Survey Gives a Voice to Artists
- New ipoque Survey Confirms the Continuing Boom of P2P File Sharing (Press Release)
- UK SURVEY: 54% of File-Sharers Buy Music on iTunes
- Canada Proposes Copyright Law Amendments To Curb File-Sharing
Actually in Canada music is not illegal to download we already pay a levy to that it’s movies and software that are illegal to download and the ‘levy’ would be aimed towards those two to subsidize the companies who are harmed this way.
And before you say ‘What Levy’ it’s that extra tax they add onto the price of every writable media in Canada that’s why there is a marginal increase in price of all writable media in Canada versus the US usually it’s about 10-20 bucks more based on the price of the item in question.
Personally I’ll pay that from here to kingdom come to keep CIRA and the RIAA goons from tromping up and knocking my door down for fantasy damages.
I wish politicians would listen but Bill C-61 proved that politicians are willfully ignorant to reality. The only elected party that actually has a clue about the reality of what is going on is the NDP who fought tooth an nail against draconian copyright laws brought on by both the Liberals and the Conservatives.
The government only administers the collection of levy’s; they do not keep the money except briefly. They go directly to an organization called the Canadian Private Copying Collective as they are collected from consumers (an organization of songwriters music publishers record companies and musicians appointed by these artists as their agent to collect and distribute the levies).
The CPCC is responsible for distributing these funds to it’s respective members. It is not a government agency but instead is controlled by the rights holders themselves.
There is a bit of confusion as the CPCC has been accused of being slow to actually pay out these funds. This is probably the source of the rumour that no money has been paid out yet by the Copyright Board which is completely untrue.
CPCC mailed out the first cheques in 2002 totaling $17 million.
They have received about $7 million in 2000 $24 million in 2001 and $28 million in 2002. Although CPCC has no figures for 2003 it’s my understanding that the Copyright Board paid out about $40 million in 2003 (but I can’t confirm that so far)
@Mord_Sith
the blank media levy went away many, many years ago.
Actually the levy was just raised in Dec 2008
http://www.cb-cda.gc.ca/decisions/cnr20082009-e.pdf
That should be read as, “only 3% of Canadians don’t know what file sharing is, and how it can benefit them”.
I am quite shocked that the people of Canada,(who I had a level of respect for until now) would support such blatant theft. Every CD you download you are taking pennies of the pockets of hardworking Musicians but more importantly than that you are leading to the demise of major record labels. Sure the study says that they are more likely to attend shows support the artists but what people do not realize is that Musicians are the least important part of music. People do not have nearly enough respect for record companies, if it was not for them how else could you ever listen to music? If it was not for major record labels we would not have the best bands of all time. Who else is going to find people for the band, tell them what people want to here and find stores to carry there music. I was shocked to see these figures and I do hope that Record labels file more lawsuits against Canada to show them the whole world has not lost there morals and resorted to petty theft in this recession.
I’m trying to figure out if Tate is being sarcastic or not. It seems borderline.
Tate if you are serious than you seriously need a couple classes in logic. You are actually going to sit there and tell me that you appreciate the record industry controlling every aspect of the music industry? You enjoy having every 3rd song played on the radio be the same, every artist pushed into a mold for the sake of sales? The internet has almost unilaterally removed the real purpose for the record industry. Artist can now produce, distribute and promote their music all from their home office.
WTF Alberta – 12%?? Seriously??
Of course Alberta has a higher rate, it’s the America of Canada. Logic dictates that their opinions and outlooks are similar to America’s.
We pay a levy so that we can download music. ANOTHER tax on top of it is ridiculous.
As well, it has been proven that filesharing INCREASES the purchase of produced media, not DECREASES it. So Tate’s comment is, as many anti-filesharers display, completely bull.
@Tate
First of all, it’s hard to even determine the effect piracy has on CD sales especially since most people would not bother to even buy music today even if CDs were the only option. Second, who cares if record labels go under. With the internet you don’t need labels anymore. Also on a side note, piracy is not considered theft under the law therefore it is a copyright violation which means it is not a criminal offense.
Land of the free, indeed!
The illicit drug , prostitution (groupy) industry and the anonymous ceo’s and industial handlers of the music industry need the the stupid economic dummies to pay to much for a product that can be enjoyed at a concert for more to the singers and musicians in terms of percentage compared to 15% or less counting the entertainment find gigs firms and individuals.
Isn’t thottling and net filtering supposed to stop all this leeching and freeloading off the net? At free WiFi zones in some of the main cities of Canada as an example; Zeropaid, this website cannot be accessed even if searched for by Google. This astounding but true.
@Shaze
Good point.
Wonder what the American survey would look like
@Tate
another religious fanatic! WE PAY A LEVY BITCH!!!
CAN’T YOU READ ??