Music Pirates More Likely to Buy Music, Study Says

by Peter Mychalcewycz on April 22, 2009 at 07:47 PM

In a twist on conventional logic, a new study reported in the Guardian has found that piracy, so often blamed for the continual downturn in music sales, may actually be sustaining the industry.

The surprising report, from the BI Norwegian School of Management, was based on a study of approximately 2,000 online music listeners over the age of 15. Researchers discovered that the people who admitted to downloading free music (legally or illegaly) were actually 10 times more likely than their law-abiding peers to pay good money for downloadable music. For the sake of accuracy, all of those who claimed to have bought music were required to present proofs of purchase. According to the Guardian, these figures -- if accurate -- identify pirates as the largest segment of online music consumers.

We aren't mathematicians, but it would seem that these so-called "pirates" are the ones putting the most "booty" in the music industry's coffers. The gray area in this never-ending dispute just got a little broader. [From: Guardian.co.uk]

Tags: file sharing, FileSharing, music, music industry, MusicIndustry, piracy, top

Comments

EmilyApr 23rd 2009 3:00AM

Neutral

Many people who I know, especially those in their teens and twenties, download music. When they find a song (or artist) that they like, they are often more than willing to buy an album or go to a concert to see that artist. I will admit that I've bought my fair share of CDs based on one song on the radio or TV (back when I listened to more bands played on US airwaves, that is), only to be greatly disappointed when that song was the only decent one on the entire album. This is probably the biggest reason for a lot of the illegal downloading that goes on.

I occasionally do download music, because much of what I listen to is simply not available in the U.S., and is difficult to obtain through online stores either due to language differences or to horrendous trans-oceanic shipping charges. Much of the time, I do end up buying the CD and/or some piece of merchandise to support the band, and have gone to quite a few concerts when these bands end up touring here.

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A.C.E.R.Apr 23rd 2009 6:44AM

Neutral

I'm at the 2 largest private music trackers and I've bought music / discovered artists that I never would have before. tbh I haven't bought anything from the large labels, but I've discovered all sorts of great music on smaller labels.

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bastion78Apr 23rd 2009 10:17AM

Neutral

I have been saying this same thing since Napster's heyday--back when I was in college. We all downloaded music be we also purchased a lot of the stuff that we downloaded because it was worth buying. I also know a lot of pirates are people who wouldn't have bought what they were pirating in the first place. The entertainment industry is losing sales because it has a lot of new contenders on the scene to divide people's time, but piracy is just an easy target to blame. If a video game does not sell well--then let's just blame the pirates. If piracy were wiped out, sales would be in the same realm they exist now. I agree that piracy has some effect on sales, but it is negligible compared to what the Industry claims it is. Wolverine Origins has been downloaded over 1 million times already, if it opens between 50-80 million then that will just prove my point.

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undrgrndgirlApr 23rd 2009 2:08PM

Neutral

duh!

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