Piracy crackdown works

Survey shows illegal downloaders more worried they’ll get caught

13 October 2008 - Illegal music downloaders are increasingly worried that they’ll be cut off by their Internet Service Provider (ISP), according to a new survey of 1,500 people.

Some of the ISP’s decided to aid the attack on music piracy earlier this year, by instigating a system of sending warning letters to the culprits.

Now more than 60% of illegal downloaders think that their internet use is being monitored, and in excess of 70% say they would stop if they received a letter in the post.

However, while the survey shows a slim decrease of numbers downloading music illegally, it still remains most popular among teenagers between 13-17: nearly two thirds, 58 %, of this age bracket say they download songs without paying.

One of industry’s big hopes is to step up the market of downloads to our mobile phones – but this was something that the survey partakers were unenthused by.

Chief Executive of Entertainment Media Research, Russell Hart has released a statement, saying: "It is quite evident that an ISP-led strategy has bite, because illegal downloaders are fairly convinced that ISPs are currently monitoring their activities and are more likely to act against them than the courts."

The survey also shed light on people's legal downloading habits, a growing market since Nokia, Myspace and Play launched new digital music stores recently.

It seems the main area of growth in legal downloads was from older music fans, with over 40% of people over 35 purchasing a music download once a month at the minimum.

"It is quite evident that an ISP-led strategy has bite, because illegal downloaders are fairly convinced that ISPs are currently monitoring their activities."
Chief Executive of Entertainment Media Research

Alexander Ross from the media law firm Wiggin, which partnered this research, highlighted: "The survey shows that despite the ubiquity of free music, there's a real willingness by consumers to pay for music products if the package is right."

Finally, the survey also stressed how important social networking sites, such as YouTube, Myspace and Facebook, are to music lovers to gain access to artists’ output.

And that video is a growing medium, with 41% voting YouTube as their favourite, and a smaller portion who favoured Myspace.

Georgie Rogers