Rich Fiscus
3 Nov 2009 5:09
The results of a new study conducted by Demos, a London-based public policy think tank, once again affirm that the people who download the most music spend more than average buying music legally.
Demos talked to 1,008 UK residents between the ages of 16 and 50. Each respondent was asked about their use of both legal and illegal means to obtain music. Their conclusions match those of other studies conducted in the past.
Of those who said they download from P2P or other unauthorized sources, the number who buy "a lot more" music is almost exactly the same as those who buy "a lot less," at 10% and 11% respectively. Nearly half of illegal downloaders (47%) said it doesn't affect how much music they buy.
That should be the most important fact for record labels, because compared to the population as a whole those unauthorized downloaders buy a lot.
Although the percentage who also buy CDs was almost identical among illegal downloaders and the entire group surveyed, the average amount of money spent was considerably higher - £77 for unauthorized downloaders compared to £51 for all respondents.
In other words most people aren't downloading illegally because they don't want to pay. They do it because they love music.
Study results also indicate that most people would stop downloading illegally if there were a possibility of getting kicked off the internet for a month. For labels this must seem like a great argument for implementing Lord Mandelson's controversial three strikes plan, but is it really?
The problem with that reasoning is it doesn't address what should be the main focus of any business; how to make more money. That is, after all, what businesses are supposed to be doing.
Disconnecting file sharers from the internet doesn't just cut them off from illegal downloads. It also blocks them from reaching the legal download sites labels increasingly rely on for revenue.
If you make it harder for your customers to spend money on your product common sense says some of them will give that money to the competition. And make no mistake there's more competition for entertainment now than ever before.
If it were your business, how much money would you spend to get laws which send your customers away?