Percentage of illegal file-sharers aged 14-24yo remains largely unchanged at 61%, with many saying they just can’t afford the high price of physical and digital albums.
UK Music, an umbrella organization that claims to represent the collective interests of the UK’s commercial music industry, has released the results of a survey it commissioned and carried out by the University of Hertfordshire’s Music and Entertainment Industries Research Group.
It surveyed some 1808 14-24yos across the UK in what it claims to be the “UK’s largest ever academic research into the music experience and behavior of young people” in that age group.
Its conclusion? When it comes to music and young people, everything is different, and yet everything is still the same.
The popularity of P2P remains unchanged since 2008 – 61% said they download music using P2P networks or torrent trackers. Of this group, 85% still say they would be would be interested in paying for an unlimited, all-you-can-eat MP3 download service, 57% said such a service would stop from using P2P altogether, and 77% said they would still continue to buy CDs.
Other key findings:
- Music remains the most valued form of entertainment
- 87% said that copying between devices is important to them
- 86% of respondents have copied a CD for a friend; 75% have sent music by email, Bluetooth, Skype or MSN; 57% have copied a friend’s entire music collection; 39% have downloaded music from an online storage site; and 38% have ripped a TV, radio or internet stream.
- The computer is the main entertainment hub – 68% of respondents use it every day to listen to music
- Ownership of music is hugely important – both online and offline
- Young people have an inherent sense of what copyright is, but choose to ignore it – the vast majority of respondents knew that sharing copyrighted content is not legal, yet continue to do so
The survey also found that paying for music was generally considered to be something of a luxury for most respondents. Digital album purchasing remains very rare with most opting to buy an occasional track on a very irregular basis and often as a result of having been given iTunes vouchers.
“I’ve been really poor for the past year, so buying music seems a bit of a luxury,” said a respondent from London. “Yeah. If I had more disposable income, then I don’t think I would have ever stopped paying and I probably would have paid for downloads as well, if I would prefer that way of purchasing. But yeah, it’s the financial circumstances, I think, more than anything.”
Another felt that buying food was more important than paying for something he could just as easily download for free.
“If I had the money, I would buy a CD every time,” said a respondent from Manchester. “I always feel a bit that I don’t have enough money, I could use that to buy food, but if I had the money, I would buy it every single time, because I want to see myself in my 25 years with a massive wall of music and just showing my kids, look, this is what I collected. It’s what my dad did and I look at his record collection and I think it’s amazing.”
It’s hard to argue that food is more important than the latest U2 album, especially with Bono’s deep-rooted concern for world hunger (insert sarcasm here).
One respondent criticized the price of CDs for being so expensive.
“They make the CDs so expensive, especially at HMV and stuff,” replied a respondent from London. “And if it’s a less popular artist I’m going to download it because I’m not going to pay like £16 for a CD because I haven’t got that kind of money. Well, most people our age don’t have that kind of money so obviously are going to download it.”
Some file-sharers found it odd to pay for something you could just as easily get for free.
“If you weren’t going to have the CD anyway I don’t see why you would pay for anything when you could get it for free anyway,” replied a respondent from Manchester. “So, unless you were actually going to have a CD I don’t see why anybody would pay any amount of money when you could download it for free.”
Something else left from the file-sharing debate is the ability to obtain music which just can’t be found anywhere else.
However, sadly enough UK Music CEO Feargal Sharkey sort of glosses over these concerns and makes sure to mention in the report that the music industry “will continue to need external support, and to continue working with ISPs and government to re-evaluate our education strategy and to strengthen our business-to-business relationships.”
In other words, he wants others to solve the music industry’s problems for it.
I think the bottom line is that the UK music industry is still failing to meet the needs of fans, with pricing and selection STILL their obvious main concerns. Working with ISPs and govt is never the solution to a failed business model.
Stay tuned.
jared@zeropaid.com
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