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Music industry gaining from legal downloading trend

by Jacquie Bowser, Brand Republic 14-Oct-08, 12:10

LONDON - The number of people legally downloading music has overtaken illegal downloaders in the UK for the first time, driven mainly by an increase in older users buying music online, according to research.

The proportion of legal downloaders rose from 47% in 2007 to 51% in 2008, according to the 2008 Digital Music Survey released by Entertainment Media Research.

This increase was caused largely by the over-45s, up from 28% to 39% and 35- to 44-year-olds, up from 36% to 44%.

The survey also indicated that the number of illegal downloaders in the UK was down by 10%. This was attributed to a number of factors, specifically the threat of legal ctionand the availability of free legal music in the form of streams, downloads and webcasts.

About 72% of illegal downloaders said they would stop illegally downloading if contacted by their ISP.

Moreover, 52% of illegal downloaders said there was no need to steal because of the availability of free legal music to download or stream.

Russell Hart, chief executive of Entertainment Media Research, said: "It is quite evident that an ISP-led strategy has bite because illegal downloaders are fairly convinced that ISPs are more likely to act against them than the courts."

Entertainment Media Research's report suggests that the industry can now battle more effectively for the monetisation of its content. One method is to partner with sites such as YouTube, which last week launched its e-commerce music plan, allowing record labels to share the revenue generated from users downloading music videos.

According to the research, nearly one in two, or 47% of users preferred to watch a music video if it was available than simply listen to a track, and 71% said the artist's official music video was the most desirable digital content.

The 2008 Digital Music Survey, currently in its fifth year, is an independent survey of 1,500 UK consumers. It's produced in association with media law firm Wiggin.

Alexander Ross, music partner at Wiggin, said "The survey shows that despite the ubiquity of free music, there's an increasing willingness on the part of consumers to pay for music products if the package is right.

"This is a real opportunity for all constituents in the industry as they continue to work together with others to create those packages."

Comments

Thomas Fearn - 14/10/2008

I'm not convinced that the introduction of users being contacted by the ISPs is the most profound cause of this shift in legal downloads, but more of a business and brand credibility success. For years users have been busy downloading music; however, this has always been at the risk of downloading Trojans, a lack of music quality and lack of devices of which to listen to the music once downloaded as, until now, it's been relatively clunky. I think within recent years and, more importantly recent industry developments; it is now easier than ever to download the content or music you want, at a reasonable price, and listen to it on the move with ease. The more versatile record labels become with these services and online networks the better for both the labels and the consumers as this will instil competition back to the market. In my opinion, large brands, record labels and music establishments alike shouldn't simply jump on the band wagon of the larger corporations such as YouTube, but start to think outside of the box and really do their homework into the types of online networks in the market place, the niches which they serve and the affinity that their brand will gain by partnering with them. With the increase of brands and record labels etc partnering with online music networks, including networks for unsigned music acts such as Ooizit.com, it is more and more likely for the legal downloader to become the norm. The online music industry is still trying to find its feet and despite attempts to control this expansion it's continued to grow at a rapid rate. One thing is for certain it'll prove to be an interesting time for the music industry over the next few years.

Mark Iremonger - 15/10/2008

People value convenience. If the music industry can deliver music in a convenient way, at a reasonable price then mainstream audiences will pay. I just wish i-Tunes didn't offer up a new 100Mb update every two weeks! It's not convenient at all! Come on Google let's have a user centric place to buy music.