Besides illegal music downloading, one likely reason for falling music sales includes consumers getting more interested in watching movies, playing games and so on, rather than music. However, according to a study published by the British Music Rights organisation last week involving 773 participants aged 14 up that completed the survey, when asked which 3 items one would take to a desert island, the most valued possession turned out to be their music collection at 73%, followed by their mobile phone at 62% and books & magazines at 49%.
As pretty much expected from a survey from a music organisation, it asked a wide range of questions about how people get and handle their music. One finding is that 63% of respondents admitted to illegal downloading. Those who download music get an average of 53 tracks per month across all age groups, with the heaviest downloader getting up to 5,000 tracks per month. When divided into age groups, 55.3% of those aged 14-17, 69.1% of those aged 18-24 and 39.5% of those aged 25+ admitted to illegal downloading, obtaining an average of 73, 56 and 23 songs per month respectively. When asked why they downloaded illegally, over 70% gave the answer "It's free, save money". 60% gave the reasons "To find rare or unreleased material" and "Try before you buy".
File sharing would not be possible without uploaders, so as part of the survey, participants were asked if they have allowed music to be shared with others on the network they downloaded from and the reasons for their choice. 42% admitted to uploading, giving the reason "Give in return to others" as the most common answer. While some would expect the risk of getting caught to be the most common reason for not sharing, it actually turns out to be "Virus, security risk, pop-ups" for over 25% of respondents, with "Illegal, risk of getting caught" next at just 15%.
95% of participants admitted to having carried out some form of copying, with the most common method involving copying music from CD to HD, CD-R or MP3. However, while recording music from the radio may seem like a thing of the past, 29% admitted to still recording music from broadcast transmissions, even though it was the least common method mentioned in the survey.
The average MP3 collection of those surveyed is about 1771 tracks with 52% of the average MP3 collection consisting of paid for tracks. When split into age groups, this is where things get interesting. Of the average MP3 collection, 61% of MP3s are not paid for in the 14-17 age group and 50% of MP3s are not paid for in the 18-24 age group. However, just 13% of MP3s are not paid for in the age group of 25+. Of those who have CD collections, 14% of the average collection consists of ripped or burnt music that was not paid for.
The full survey, including charts, can be downloaded from the source in PDF.
