Infinite Path

A new survey, commissioned by researchers Demos, has found that individuals who habitually download music illegally are generally more willing to spend money on purchasing tracks legally. The gap between the average amount spent by those who are unfamiliar with peer-to-peer filesharing sites, which have hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons this year, and those who have no qualms using such sites is significant.

Illegal downloaders (a group that made up about one in ten of those interviewed in the survey aged between 16 and 50) spend, on average, £77 per year on legitimate music, compared to the more modest total of £44 for individuals uninterested in filesharing.

The survey uncovered some interesting online music habits. Surprisingly, over a fifth of those questioned had never heard of Napster, the site which was once a stalwart of music filesharing. Today, only around 4% of the sample group questioned use Napster, with Spotify emerging as a popular choice of music streaming service. The participants of the survey praised Spotify for being convenient and simple to use.

Peter Bradwell, a researcher working for Demos, revealed that both “politicians and music companies need to recognise that the nature of music consumption” is evolving as the internet itself changes and continues to grow in popularity across the world. This evolution will pose difficult questions for the government, with the issue of the draft Digital Economy Bill still high on the political agenda.