Illegal music downloading at all-time high – price to blame
According to a new report, illegal music downloads are at an all-time high – and the record companies shoulder a good amount of the blame.
The fourth annual Digital Music Survey by Entertainment Media Research polled 1,700 people, with 43% claiming that they are illegally downloading tracks, rising from 36% last year and 40% in 2005. Only 33% cited the risk of being prosecuted as a deterrent against unauthorised downloading, compared with 42% in 2006. And one in five intends to download more. Price is seen as the key factor – CD prices might be falling, but that just makes the price of downloads seem more expensive. According to the report, one suggested way of dealing with that is ‘differential pricing’ – less for older tracks, a higher price for new releases.
But it’s not all doom and gloom for the record labels, with the survey also pointing out the success of social networking sites like Bebo and MySpace for driving new music sales.
Via The Guardian
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One thought on “Illegal music downloading at all-time high – price to blame”
> price to blame
Sure, price might be to blame, but how many people in the target demographics have the credit cards needed to participate in paying for their music?
It’s not the price so much as it is the credit/debit card industry… and the general failure of ubiquitous micro-transactions.
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