The Recording Industry Association of America may take heart at a report that suggests illegal file sharing among teenagers in Canada is twice as popular as in the US. The Canadian courts have not allowed the record labels there to take as strict a legal stance against downloaders as the RIAA have in the US, mainly because the county's copyright laws are not sufficiently detailed in this area. The fact illegal downloading is more prevalent in a neighbouring country where legal action has been limited could be a sign that the RIAA's hardline approach to individuals who illegally share music online is working.
The new report, published by Ipsos-Reid, shows that music downloading is one of the most popular internet activities for 12-17 year olds in Canada, along with using email and instant messenger. 29% of participants said they downloaded music 'a few times a week', 53% said they downloaded music at least 'a few times a month'. Only a third of those interviewed did not download at all - similar surveys in the US show 60% of teenagers are not yet downloading music. The crucial statistic for the music industry, however, was that only 20% said they paid for the music they downloaded - therefore the majority of the music being downloaded by the majority of Canadian teenagers comes from illegal P2P networks.
Of course it could be argued that the legitimate download sector in Canada is someway behind that in the US and parts of Europe - iTunes only launched there last week - and that may also be a reason for the high amount of illegal music downloading. The research also showed that, while downloading amongst teenagers was up, older music fans were downloading less that in previous years. This perhaps suggests the message about the ethics of illegal downloading is spreading around Canada, but the legitimate digital music services are yet to properly take off.