'Pirates' spend more on music than the rest of us

By Stephen Withers
Tuesday, 03 November 2009 10:09

Technology

Another survey has found that people who download music from unsanctioned sources - those the industry likes to call pirates - are actually some of the music industry's best customers.

UK think-tank Demos engaged research firm Ipsos MediaCT to survey more than 1000 British adults (more precisely, 16-50 year olds) about their attitudes and behaviours around music downloading.

While 69% use officially-sanctioned sources of music and music videos (eg YouTube, iTunes Store and internet radio stations), one third of adults use Google and other search engines to locate free albums and tracks, and use file-sharing services such as BitTorrent to download them.

However, only 9% actually admitted to downloading music without the copyright holders' permission, and those that did typically also pay for music and use sanctioned online sources.

Among the users of unofficial services, roughly half said it had no effect on their music buying habits, and approximately one quarter said using those services has resulted in them buying more music. Less than one fifth said they buy less music.

So who are the 'illegal' downloaders?

Slightly more than half of them are male, and seven out of ten are under 35 years old.

Significantly for the record labels, they are active music buyers. Not only had eight out of ten purchased music in the previous 12 months (CDs, vinyl or downloads), but the two-thirds that purchased CDs spent an average of £75 ($A136).

What was the average for the remaining respondents? Less than £45 ($A82).

Nine out of ten illegal downloaders use at least one sanctioned internet music service, and they are also users of other internet media services: almost 9 out of 10 use YouTube, and 7 out of 10 use one of the catch-up TV sites.

Four out of ten say they 'try before they buy', and one quarter say they download items they have already purchased on CD or vinyl.