What's going on here then, is it 'knock the music industry day' among the research community or something? Apparently your music is overpriced, your content is boring and your strategies flawed. Ah well, there's a secret Keane album showcase on Wednesday night - that's cheered you all up, I'm sure.
Anyway, first bit of music research of the day, and new stats from XTN Data reckon P2P usage in the UK is still on the up because music fans don't like the limitations placed on tracks bought from even the more consumer friendly legit download outfits.
XTN's survey of an albeit relatively small sample group (1000 consumers) found that 28% of people admitted to downloading music without paying, up from 25% when the firm conducted similar research back in September. This despite the continuing growth of legit download platforms, and a number of high profile wins in court for the BPI against individual illegal filesharers. In fact only 12% of those surveyed said the risk of litigation from using file sharing networks would tempt them to use legitimate download platforms, with cheaper pricing and ease of use cited as the main factors that would persuade music fans to the legal sources of music.
XTN Data boss Greig Harper observed: "Clunky software, difficulty in finding tracks and over-zealous protection limiting where customers can play music they've bought are continuing to fuel filesharing. The industry is ignoring simple solutions which could see filesharers head to a legitimate service."
Perhaps more interesting, and possibly worrying for the music industry, were XTN's findings regarding the download platforms music fans were choosing. While 44% of those interviewed said they used iTunes to access their digital music, 14% said they used Russian download site AllofMP3.com, making it the second biggest download platform in the UK. This is problematic for the music industry because the Moscow based service, which provides digital music without DRM at incredibly cheap prices, claims to be a legal operation with legitimate licences to trade from Russian content owners, but the International Federation Of The Phonographic Industry has questioned that legitimacy calling, albeit unsuccessfully, on Russian authorities to investigate the operation.
Commenting on the popularity of AllofMP3.com, Harper continued: "This is the first time we've monitored AllOfMP3.com and we were surprised when it took second place. But it offers cheap downloads, is easy to use and has no restrictions on where people can play the tracks. This is what music fans are asking for so perhaps AllOfMP3's popularity isn't that surprising."