Is there finally light at the end of the dark music industry tunnel?
The music industry in general likes to paint all young music listeners as nothing more than downloading pirates out to destroy the music business as we know it. They have been labeled as the killers of the album (CD) format instead being more inclined to cherry pick their favorite songs to download. This opinion though could actually be far from the truth if there is any truth in some research conducted by The Leading Question, a media agency, and Music Ally, a digital music consultancy.
The research is the results of questioning 2,000 music fans about their listening and buying habits. Interestingly enough it found that among teenagers – 66% – there is a stronger preference for downloading CDs rather than just singles. Most striking though was the finding that the percentage of people getting their music via file-sharing – aka piracy – has fallen from 22% to 17%. Even more astonishing according to the research is that among the 14 – 18 year old demographic the fall has been even greater decline going from 42% to just 26%.
The conclusion drawn by the researchers is that habits amongst those digitally aware consumers who don’t buy CDs are changing – they’re moving from downloading illegally to streaming legally.
They’re still not paying for online music then, but at least they’re using legitimate services. And here in the UK, it’s one business, Spotify, which is getting a lot of the credit for that change.
Source: BBC News – Green shoots in the music industry?
As the post pointed out – the industry bosses think they’ve finally started coming up with services that just might convert pirates into legal consumers – the problem is finding ways to pay for those new ways and services.
