Growth in the number of people who legally download music is slowing, according to a new report. While last year saw 40 percent growth in legal downloaders, this year there has only been a 15 percent increase, says London-based Entertainment Media Research’s wide-ranging 2007 Digital Music Survey on digital music in the UK.
— Piracy: Although illegal copying in 2006 fell to 36 percent of survey respondents from 40 percent the previous year, the number of people who do it is this year back up to 43 percent – and more of them than ever report they are going to do it more and more in future. They are less concerned about being caught – 33 percent of consumers this year said fear of prosecution was a motivation to download less, down from 42 percent last year. Those who plan to illegally download more in future are grown-ups (18-34).
— DRM: EMI was right – 68 percent of consumers thought music was only worth purchasing if it was DRM-free, and 39 percent would pay more to get it like that.
— Pricing: A fall in high street CD prices has reduced online’s cost advantage – while in 2006 45 percent of legal downloaders said they bought downloads because they were cheaper than physical formats, this year only 31 percent of people see the advantage. 84 percent said back-catalog tracks should be cheaper; 48 percent would pay more for newer releases.
— Social networks: Such sites play a growing role in music discovery and consumption, with 39 percent of all social network users having embedded a track on their profile But there’s an age gap – under-35s rate MySpace best for music, over-35s say YouTube; overall, only 16 percent of people rate Bebo top for music. Some 13 percent of users have actually purchased music they discovered at MySpace, 15 percent for Bebo, seven percent for YouTube – but 46 percent overall wish it were easier to buy the tunes they find at such sites.
— Devices: 77 percent of consumers now own a personal digital music player, up from 57 percent in 2006, and the brands showing greatest penetration increases are mobile phone makers. But mobile music firms need to make the download experience better – only five percent of survey respondents plan to start buying music via mobile in the next year. However, a quarter of mobile users listen to the radio on their phone, up from 15 percent last year, suggesting an opening for broadcasters to be the drivers of digital downloads.