Some scary reading from US based Edison Media Research’s survey of music fans for trade publication Radio & Records.
71% of heavy downloaders said that instead of buying a CD they have burnt someone else's copy, and 48% of them said they no longer have to buy CDs because they can download music for free.
More teens than ever are burning instead of buying - 61% of 12-17-year-olds have burned someone else's copy of a CD instead of buying their own copy, a 13% increase in one year.
That said some downloaders admitted they felt a little guilty about ‘stealing’ music. The majority of music downloaders do have “some reservations” about artists’ and labels’ not being compensated (though it doesn’t stop them downloading!). And in their defense a majority of downloaders claim they have gone on to buy an artist’s CD after downloading a track for free from the Internet.
No response yet from the major labels – though presumably the more negative stats will appear in ongoing anti-download litigation.
On an aside – the artists whose music 12 – 17 year olds download the most all come from the hip hop world
- #1 Tupac, #2 Eminem, #3 50 Cent.
We don’t condone illegal downloading of course but we suspect Eminem and 50 Cent can afford to lose a few single sales, and as far as we are aware Tupac has no opinion on the matter.