Farin Posted April 21, 2009 Report Share Posted April 21, 2009 According to research, those who download 'free' music are also the industry's largest audience for digital sales [smaller]Sean Michaels | guardian.co.uk | Tuesday 21 April 2009 | Link[/smaller] Piracy may be the bane of the music industry but according to a new study, it may also be its engine. A report from the BI Norwegian School of Management has found that those who download music illegally are also 10 times more likely to pay for songs than those who don't. Everybody knows that music sales have continued to fall in recent years, and that filesharing is usually blamed. We are made to imagine legions of internet criminals, their fingers on track-pads, downloading songs via BitTorrent and never paying for anything. One of the only bits of good news amid this doom and gloom is the steady rise in digital music sales. Millions of internet do-gooders, their fingers on track-pads, who pay for songs they like – purchasing them from Amazon or iTunes Music Store. And yet according to Professor Anne-Britt Gran's new research, these two groups may be the same. The Norwegian study looked at almost 2,000 online music users, all over the age of 15. Researchers found that those who downloaded "free" music – whether from lawful or seedy sources – were also 10 times more likely to pay for music. This would make music pirates the industry's largest audience for digital sales. Wisely, the study did not rely on music pirates' honesty. Researchers asked music buyers to prove that they had proof of purchase. The paper's conclusions emerge just as Sweden's Pirate Bay trial comes to a close. Pirate Bay's four defendants, who helped operate the notorious BitTorrent tracker, were sentenced to a year in jail and fined 30m SEK (£2,500,000) in damages. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Seeker Posted April 21, 2009 Report Share Posted April 21, 2009 This doesn't come as much of a surprise to me. Let's just hope those lawyers and music people read this Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lea Posted April 21, 2009 Report Share Posted April 21, 2009 It doesn't really surprise me either. Farin did remind my of a question I want to ask and know I'm wondering where to ask it at hmmm. It has to do with Amazon and Dling music. Not Q&A I don't think Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Seeker Posted April 21, 2009 Report Share Posted April 21, 2009 No one's going to ban you if you post in the wrong forum Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lea Posted April 21, 2009 Report Share Posted April 21, 2009 Yeah but as a daily long term SF member I should set a good example I'll post it in ask an SFer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheLizard Posted April 21, 2009 Report Share Posted April 21, 2009 Pirates may be buying music, but the ninja demographic is absolutely killing the record industry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lea Posted April 21, 2009 Report Share Posted April 21, 2009 What is a "ninja demographic" Tim. I've never heard of it. Google dosen't tell me so I guess you'll have to Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farin Posted April 21, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 21, 2009 see here Pirates versus Ninjas (or vice versa) is an internet meme that circulates in the form of an ongoing debate that asks the question "Who would win in a fight: pirates or ninjas?". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lea Posted April 21, 2009 Report Share Posted April 21, 2009 ohhhK. Thanks Farin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawna Posted April 21, 2009 Report Share Posted April 21, 2009 now... what's a meme? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Batman Posted April 23, 2009 Report Share Posted April 23, 2009 I personally think it's time for the music industry to stop debating whether piracy is good or bad and just accept that it's here, it's not going away, and they have to find a way to make profit other than CD sales. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farin Posted April 24, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 24, 2009 now... what's a meme? memes are the 'funny' reoccurring themes in internet culture... eg Pirates vs Ninjas, the "LOL" cats, "Rickrolling", motivational posters, etc... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MindCrime Posted April 24, 2009 Report Share Posted April 24, 2009 At first I thought this was about the other pirates, the ones of the Caribbean. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JumboXL Posted April 24, 2009 Report Share Posted April 24, 2009 Downloading didn't change much for us. "In the old days" my fiancee and I used to spend some time in a record store, to listen to the latest Neil Young, or Bob Dylan, or some new talent. We wouldn't buy the record or CD until it was clear that is was worth the money. We bought about 30-45 albums per year. Nowadays we download, listen carefully, and if it is good, we buy the real thing. We still buy about 30-45 albums per year. The difference: no more bad bargains. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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