Unauthorized music downloading at all-time high

Unauthorized music downloading at all-time high
According to a new report by Entertainment Media Research, unauthorized music downloading is at an all-time high and the piracy is set to continue rising despite the legal efforts of the RIAA.

The report also stated that the group of consumers that are unconcerned with being sued for unauthorized downloads is growing.



The report, which was a poll of 1700 people, claims that 43% of the people now download unauthorized tracks, up 7% from 2006. Those scared of being sued due to their downloading dropped to 33% from 42% in 2006.

Stating what many have seen to be truth for a long time, the report noted that price was the key factor for the increased unauthorized downloading. As CD prices have fallen, the old perceived cost advantage of legal downloads has eroded. 84% of those polled agreed that differential pricing would help to increase sales. Older songs should be cheaper while newer, hotter singles can remain at a higher price.

John Enser, head of music at law firm Olswang, said: "As illegal downloading hits an all-time high and consumers' fear of prosecution falls, the music industry must look for more ways to encourage the public to download music legally."

Of course the music industry association BPI, scared of a hit to their wallets, said that new business models would not lead to success but instead argued that better protection against piracy was the key. The specifically asked that ISPs do more to enforce copyright. "Industry cannot do it alone," said a spokesman. "ISPs as gatekeepers, and government as legislators, must also play an active role in tackling copyright theft if the UK is to thrive as a knowledge economy."

When will the industry open their eyes to the answers that are right in front of them and stop spending money on extra "protection"?


Source:
Guardian


Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 30 Jul 2007 15:04
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  • 30 comments
  • AXT

    Those RIAA dickheads are getting what they deserve. That is what happens when you sue college students and single mothers. Those old dinosaurs need to die out already just like the US congress.

    30.7.2007 15:19 #1

  • joonbugg

    ^^^ I agree 100%. This is great news.

    30.7.2007 15:44 #2

  • neognat

    I think a line from Star Wars said by Princess Leia expresses it well. This is something of a paraphrase: The more they tighten their grasp, the more that will slip through their fingers.

    30.7.2007 15:54 #3

  • tefarko

    I guess the people who used to buy songs at allofmp3.com now are downloading for free... :-P

    30.7.2007 16:10 #4

  • DVDdoug

    Quote:The report, which was a poll of 1700 people, claims that 43% of the people now download unauthorized tracks, up 7% from 2006. I don't believe those numbers! They must have polled a hacker convention... or maybe a high school. Give me a break... 43% of the population doesn't even know how to download songs. Some people won't do it because they believe its wrong. Some people won't do it because they don't want to take a chance of a virus/spyware infected computer. Some people just don't want to get caught.

    Think about it. Do your parents download songs? Does your baby sister download songs? Do your grandparents download songs? Do your teachers download songs? Some people don't have a portable MP3 player, or their own computer. Some people don't even like music that much... they'd rather listen to talk-radio!

    I don't download illegal music. I own about 300 CDs, and I've downloaded a handfull of legal songs from Napster. (I do sometimes copy CDs for friends & family.) I don't even know anyone who downloads music... Maybe my sister's kids do, but I'm sure nobody else in my family does. And, AFAIK, nobody at the small company where I work does either.

    I know a couple of people who are morally opposed to ANY illegal copying. When I've offered to copy a CD or DVD for them, they say no!

    30.7.2007 17:09 #5

  • 21Q

    O.o a double post, how'd that happen?

    30.7.2007 17:38 #6

  • 21Q

    You must know some wacky people, but then again I am in high school. I've told many people that they WILL get sued yet they ignore me, so these #'s are reasonable. But I do agree that most adults I know don't know even know to use any kind of p2p, let alone their own computer, if they have one. It must be polled within people who download illigaly.

    30.7.2007 17:38 #7

  • garmoon

    Well this old dinosaur knows how to, since FTP days thru napster-audiogalaxy-kazaa-limewire -frostwire till the lawsuits started.I also know friends that have downloaded. I basically stopped when the lawsuits began- but the music-noise- they sell now, I would never download it if it were free.

    30.7.2007 17:50 #8

  • spydah

    The worst thing about this article is as long as they twist the truth with articles like this and will continue to have support from those who make it easy for them to stay in business. As somebody already said 43% of people dont know how to download let alone work a web browser or even standard software. If you poll 100 people 10 people may know something then out of that 10, 4 may know about exclusive sites and how to use them.

    30.7.2007 18:47 #9

  • ThePastor

    Quote:Industry cannot do it alone," said a spokesman. "ISPs as gatekeepers, and government as legislators, must also play an active role in tackling copyright theft if the UK is to thrive as a knowledge economy."This is like blaming the road for all the speeders on the highway.

    I agree with the one poster above. The numbers of downloaders has got to be lower than that. I'm a tech savvy kind of guy and I have no interest in music. I've went online to find a specific old recording from time to time but I certainly do not look on the web for a new playlist of music for my next party. And I don't know anyone who does!

    That being said, as torrent becomes easier and easier to use numbers of downloaded music will rise. It is now quite simple to install Utorrent and, using its default settings and a good torrent website find just about anything you can imagine. Even my very NON-tech savvy friends are able to accomplish this.
    But they aren't wasting their time downloading some new Britney Spears hack job. They're downloading movies and porn.

    30.7.2007 18:57 #10

  • jetyi83

    Quote:Quote:The report, which was a poll of 1700 people, claims that 43% of the people now download unauthorized tracks, up 7% from 2006. I don't believe those numbers! They must have polled a hacker convention... or maybe a high school. Give me a break... 43% of the population doesn't even know how to download songs. Some people won't do it because they believe its wrong. Some people won't do it because they don't want to take a chance of a virus/spyware infected computer. Some people just don't want to get caught.

    Think about it. Do your parents download songs? Does your baby sister download songs? Do your grandparents download songs? Do your teachers download songs? Some people don't have a portable MP3 player, or their own computer. Some people don't even like music that much... they'd rather listen to talk-radio!

    I don't download illegal music. I own about 300 CDs, and I've downloaded a handfull of legal songs from Napster. (I do sometimes copy CDs for friends & family.) I don't even know anyone who downloads music... Maybe my sister's kids do, but I'm sure nobody else in my family does. And, AFAIK, nobody at the small company where I work does either.

    I know a couple of people who are morally opposed to ANY illegal copying. When I've offered to copy a CD or DVD for them, they say no!
    i know quite a few people that are basically computer illiterate; however, the one thing they do know how to do is download music. i wouldnt say 43% of the american population downloads music, but i wouldnt be surprised if it was 33%. Either way, it doesnt say 43% of america downloads music, it says it has raised 7% since that of last year. Werever the survey was taken, it was most likely taken from the same type of demographic as before. downloads are up, and its a good thing. The riaa and mpaa are ridiculously corrupt and greedy. They have made attempts to shut down the entire internet. They have attempted to tax mp3 players under the assumption that whoever owns one will pirate music. they all deserve to be stabbed multiple times with permanent damage.

    30.7.2007 19:59 #11

  • borhan9

    Quote:When will the industry open their eyes to the answers that are right in front of them and stop spending money on extra "protection"?I feel that we have all been waiting for this answer for a long time now. When will they ever get it.

    30.7.2007 22:16 #12

  • Unfocused

    @DVDdoug

    You make an excellent point. Of the 35 or so people at my job, only 5 of them own a computer, and of those, only 1 of them knows how to download music. That individual doesn't do it because they live with their parents and they have dial up.

    30.7.2007 23:50 #13

  • craftyzan

    If you send or receive an MP3 over a Yahoo chat, you've been busy downloading music so I believe those numbers.

    31.7.2007 01:22 #14

  • neognat

    43 percent of the population of the U.S. would be about 200 million people. That does seem like quite a few. I agree with DVDdoug. I would have an easier time believing maybe 2 million downloaders in the U.S., but even that seems like too many.

    31.7.2007 18:06 #15

  • DXR88

    Crafty Zan dont tell RIAA about that they might start snooping threw are email for illiagily downloaded song as attachments

    31.7.2007 19:00 #16

  • DVDBack23

    Originally posted by neognat: 43 percent of the population of the U.S. would be about 200 million people. That does seem like quite a few. I agree with DVDdoug. I would have an easier time believing maybe 2 million downloaders in the U.S., but even that seems like too many.43 percent of the US is about 120 million people and although that number probably is abit inflated, it is not unreasonable. Broadband is much cheaper and easier to come about nowadays, especially in metropolitan areas and teenagers and young adults with access to computers can easily equal 200 million.

    As for saying you believe 2 million downloaders only...last i checked there was 200 million registered downloads of Limewire, Ares, Shareaza and eMule together. :)

    31.7.2007 19:10 #17

  • DXR88

    hey guys my download of gnarkill just finished got to open my utorrent window and remove it after a move gnarkill to another location

    31.7.2007 19:24 #18

  • neognat

    Quote:As for saying you believe 2 million downloaders only...last i checked there was 200 million registered downloads of Limewire, Ares, Shareaza and eMule together. :)Were those 200 million downloads in the U.S. or world-wide? I was using the U.S. because I thought it would be an easier population to use as an example. There well could be 200 million downloads worldwide, as the population of the U.S. is a rather small percentage of the world population. Then, of course, there is the question of how many people who have downloaded client software have actually used it, and of those, how many have used it for the purpose in question?

    The current population of the U.S. is 302,496,134. 43 percent of which would be 135 million--so I have to admit that I goofed on that one. However, the current population of the world is 6,609,021,768. 43 percent of that is 2,841,879,298. Are there 2.8 billion people running torrent clients? That's a whole lot more than the cited 200 million client software downloads. Where did the other 2.6 billion people get the software if they didn't download it?

    Again, 43 percent is absurd, especially when stated out of context. That was the point.

    My source for the populations: http://www.census.gov/

    1.8.2007 15:21 #19

  • wetsparks

    Quote:The report, which was a poll of 1700 people, claims that 43% of the people now download unauthorized tracks, up 7% from 2006. Those scared of being sued due to their downloading dropped to 33% from 42% in 2006. You guys are misreading the statistic. It says they surveyed (hopefully randomly) 1700 people. And of those 1700 people 43%, or 731 people, say they downloaded music illegally. And 561 people said they were scared of being sued for it.

    To project that globally is insane as most of the worlds population is in places like Africa and Asia. Unfortunately, the majority of the population there is to poor to afford internet even if it is offered.

    The only sane way to project that is to say project it across all high schools and colleges across America and Europe where tech savvy people are.

    God hates console fanboys. Heres the proof....
    http://cad-comic.com/comic.php?d=20050205
    -----
    May the way of the hero lead to the Triforce.

    3.8.2007 17:23 #20

  • neognat

    Quote:The only sane way to project that is to say project it across all high schools and colleges across America and Europe where tech savvy people are.The whole point of a sample is to make a statement about some defined population. To be considered accurate, the sample must possess the same characteristics as the population. The 43 percent cited didn't make any statements about who was sampled and from which population the sample was derived. That's what makes it so problematic. The 43 percent statistic is meaningless, because we can only make guesses about who was sampled and to which population they might belong. Essentially, it is just propaganda.

    3.8.2007 19:42 #21

  • wetsparks

    That pretty true neognat. If they sampled the first 1700 people to walk into Mall USA (I think that is what it is called, the one just outside of Minneapolis, MN, the biggest mall in the US) they would get completely different results than if they sampled the first 1700 people to walk into Walmart. They even could have intentionally biased their own survey to only survey people who considered themselves computer literate. There are a million ways you can bias your study to get the results you are looking for.

    4.8.2007 10:17 #22

  • wetsparks

    Thats pretty true neognat. If they sampled the first 1700 people to walk into Mall USA (I think that is what it is called, the one just outside of Minneapolis, MN, the biggest mall in the US) they would get completely different results than if they sampled the first 1700 people to walk into Walmart. They even could have intentionally biased their own survey to only survey people who considered themselves computer literate. There are a million ways you can bias your study to get the results you are looking for.

    4.8.2007 10:17 #23

  • neognat

    Quote:To project that globally is insane ...Yup! I couldn't agree more. I used the global example because it is indeed ridiculous, for the purpose of making the ridiculous obvious.

    6.8.2007 06:51 #24

  • plazma247

    I find the comment:

    "said that new business models would not lead to success but instead argued that better protection against piracy was the key."

    However their model was last really revised with the invention of the CD.. Since then LOTS and i mean LOTS has changed, i know they have made half attempt at taking thie model and appling it to internet downloads and in the most cases its failed, itunes for example has been so popular because it broke the mould and didnt try and then sell the same thing without the disk or box for nearly the same price, the ipod obviously masivly helped its thrive where others failed before.

    They know in the long run its got to change.....

    6.8.2007 10:32 #25

  • wetsparks

    The reason the iPod did so well is because Apple marketed the s#!% out of it and convinced teenagers everywhere that to be cool you had to have an iPod. And the quote is key, the business model right now is jack up prices on CDs, even old CDs, while production costs come down.

    7.8.2007 09:34 #26

  • DXR88

    haha.. have to be cool to own an ipod. hehe more like really stupid.why whould i buy an expensive product when i can get one does the same thing not to mentune i dont have to shop at apples itunes.
    for the mater of dollares compared to ipod. the ipod was a great idea dont get me wrong but nows it like a dying anaconda trying to squese what money everybody has left.

    7.8.2007 10:04 #27

  • plazma247

    I think that wetsparks right, pre ipod, those who used portable mp3 players were far and few between and normally only those who were lerned in the way of the silcon processor.

    However post Ipod every ones got an idea of what mp3's are and virtually every knows what an ipod is including my gran who wouldnt have a clue how to use one.

    7.8.2007 10:10 #28

  • craftyzan

    And remember, what's riding around all those little pen drives?

    17.8.2007 12:41 #29

  • craftyzan

    Originally posted by DXR88: Crafty Zan dont tell RIAA about that they might start snooping threw are email for illiagily downloaded song as attachmentsThere's a whole f of a lot of emails flying across cyberspace.

    17.8.2007 12:46 #30

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