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Music buyers have no fear
New study from Canadian marketing firm indicates that most people who buy music online do so out of convenience, not out of fear of being sued.
A new report says one piece of the music industry's fight against illegal downloading is far more effective than the other.
The industry has used a two-pronged attack against file sharing: Scare 'em straight with the threat of litigation, and offer fee-based alternatives like iTunes and Napster.
A consumer survey by Canadian marketing firm Ipsos-Reid indicates that convenience, not fear, is driving consumers to legal download services. The study, titled, Cultivating Desire: Investing in Market Insights to Reap Digital Content Profits, is aimed at helping digital players exploit consumer preferences.
The firm found that 38 percent of people who paid a fee to download music from the Internet said it was "more convenient to download songs from the Internet," while only 2 percent said they used a legal service because they were "concerned about legal issues with downloading music."
That would suggest the wave of litigation brought by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) against online music traders isn't having the desired effect.
Nevertheless, the report found that the pendulum is indeed swinging in the right direction for the industry, regardless of its impetus. The study indicated that 12 percent of Americans have paid to download music, while 13 percent have used an illegal peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing service.
Still, digital downloads haven't taken off at the same pace as sales of iPods have, according to independent media analyst Richard Greenfield.
According to Nielsen SoundScan, average weekly download sales as of November 27 fell 0.44 percent compared to the previous quarter. With Apple consistently saying it is having to keep up with "staggering" demand for iPods--it says it has sold 30 million iPods since they were introduced in 2001--Greenfield questions why downloads aren't skyrocketing along with iPod sales.
Citing sources close to Apple, a report from BusinessWeek Online today says that sales of iTunes gift cards are "off the charts," meaning that downloads should surge after Christmas.
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