Survey: Among Consumers, File-Swappers Spend Most on Music

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 2, 2009 - 8:30am.

London - Those who download songs from unauthorized file-sharing services are the consumers who spend the most money on music, according to a survey of 1,000 16-50 year-olds with Internet access conducted by Ipsos MORI on behalf of London-based think tank Demos. The survey found that one in ten of the British respondents admitted to using free file-sharing services. File-swappers were found to spend about $120 a year on music -- 75% more than the $72 spent by those who aren't on file-sharing networks.

"The people who file-share are the ones who are interested in music," Forrester Research's Mark Mulligan told the Independent.

"They use file-sharing as a discovery mechanism. We have a generation of young people who don't have any concept of music as a paid-for commodity."

The survey also found that 61% of file-swappers said they'd be put off of downloading by the threat of an Internet service suspension.

The U.K. government recently proposed new "three-strikes" legislation -- similar to what is now the law in France -- that would suspend the Internet accounts of repeat file-swappers who ignore several warnings to cease their actions.

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/t0s9o (Independent)

http://www.demos.co.uk

http://www.ipsos-mori.com