- Aug 23, 2003
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By Ben Bland
Illegal music downloads have reached an all time high just as the growth of online social networking has shifted the epicentre of the music industry away from the major record labels, according to a new study.
The 2007 Digital Media Survey, carried out by Entertainment Media Research in conjunction with media lawyers Olswang, revealed that the popularity of social networking websites such as MySpace and BeBo is helping to "democratise" the music industry as more young people discover new music online instead of via the radio or music television.
Of the 1,700 13-60 year-olds questioned, 86pc have used a social networking site this year, up from 74pc in 2006.
Four out of every ten social network users have music embedded in their personal profiles, rising to 65pc among teenagers.
Russell Hart, chief executive of Entertainment Media Research, described this phenomenon as "the democratisation of the music industry.
"Social networks are fundamentally changing the way we discover, purchase and use music," he said. "The dynamics of democratisation, word of mouth recommendation and instant purchase challenge the established order and offer huge opportunities to forward-thinking businesses."
The survey has further bad news for the music industry as it found that 43pc of those questioned are downloading tracks illegally, up from 36pc last year.
At the same time, there has been a dramatic slowdown in the growth of authorised downloads, with the number of legal downloaders growing by just 15pc this year, compared to 40pc in 2006.
Mr Hart explained that more people are turning to music piracy because official downloads are seen as too expensive and the fear of legal action has eased as memories of a number of high-profile piracy prosecutions have faded.
"There has been a significant increase in the preparedness to download illegal music by teenagers and people in their 20s," he added.
With margins on CDs declining while the growth of legal downloads slows and piracy rises again, the music industry is under pressure to find better ways to distribute its content.
John Enser, head of music at Olswang, said: "The music industry needs to embrace new opportunities being generated by the increasing popularity of music on social networking sites. Surfing these sites and discovering new music is widespread with the latest generation of online consumers but the process of actually purchasing the music needs to be made easier to encourage sales and develop this new market."
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Not surprising at all, really. Even as iTunes recently sold their 3 billionth song, the rise of file sharing of all kinds (not just music) has not backed down at all, even with RIAAs much publicized (and universally panned) efforts at cracking down. Their heyday of big P2P network takedowns (like Napster, Kazaa, Grokster) are long gone and the rise of BitTorrent is proving to be an unwinnable legal situation for property rights holders.
It's time for them to redirect most of their efforts to new avenues of serving consumers. Filing lawsuits will barely slow the rapid decay of traditional music sales.
By Ben Bland
Illegal music downloads have reached an all time high just as the growth of online social networking has shifted the epicentre of the music industry away from the major record labels, according to a new study.
The 2007 Digital Media Survey, carried out by Entertainment Media Research in conjunction with media lawyers Olswang, revealed that the popularity of social networking websites such as MySpace and BeBo is helping to "democratise" the music industry as more young people discover new music online instead of via the radio or music television.
Of the 1,700 13-60 year-olds questioned, 86pc have used a social networking site this year, up from 74pc in 2006.
Four out of every ten social network users have music embedded in their personal profiles, rising to 65pc among teenagers.
Russell Hart, chief executive of Entertainment Media Research, described this phenomenon as "the democratisation of the music industry.
"Social networks are fundamentally changing the way we discover, purchase and use music," he said. "The dynamics of democratisation, word of mouth recommendation and instant purchase challenge the established order and offer huge opportunities to forward-thinking businesses."
The survey has further bad news for the music industry as it found that 43pc of those questioned are downloading tracks illegally, up from 36pc last year.
At the same time, there has been a dramatic slowdown in the growth of authorised downloads, with the number of legal downloaders growing by just 15pc this year, compared to 40pc in 2006.
Mr Hart explained that more people are turning to music piracy because official downloads are seen as too expensive and the fear of legal action has eased as memories of a number of high-profile piracy prosecutions have faded.
"There has been a significant increase in the preparedness to download illegal music by teenagers and people in their 20s," he added.
With margins on CDs declining while the growth of legal downloads slows and piracy rises again, the music industry is under pressure to find better ways to distribute its content.
John Enser, head of music at Olswang, said: "The music industry needs to embrace new opportunities being generated by the increasing popularity of music on social networking sites. Surfing these sites and discovering new music is widespread with the latest generation of online consumers but the process of actually purchasing the music needs to be made easier to encourage sales and develop this new market."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Not surprising at all, really. Even as iTunes recently sold their 3 billionth song, the rise of file sharing of all kinds (not just music) has not backed down at all, even with RIAAs much publicized (and universally panned) efforts at cracking down. Their heyday of big P2P network takedowns (like Napster, Kazaa, Grokster) are long gone and the rise of BitTorrent is proving to be an unwinnable legal situation for property rights holders.
It's time for them to redirect most of their efforts to new avenues of serving consumers. Filing lawsuits will barely slow the rapid decay of traditional music sales.
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