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Music Pirates Are The Music Industry's Largest Online Consumers

When it comes to statements in the music business, then the assertion that music pirates are the music industry's largest online consumers, might take some swallowing.

Pirates are the true enemies of the music industry, or so we are led to believe, but a recent study has concluded that pirates are actually the largest online customers. It reports that pirates are ten times more likely to buy more music online than non-pirates.

The study was conducted by the BI Norwegian School of Management and their findings revealed that those who frequented such sites as BitTorrent to download music, also made up the biggest group of legimate customers for downloadable music. The study was based on nearly 2,000 Norwegian based participants who were all aged over 15. The figures suggested that within the age group of 15 to 20, some 50% of the study participants had not only purchased a CD in the last six months, but had bought music downloads from such sites as iTunes.

Whether this proves that the CD isn’t quite dead yet, or that Norwegian pirates are more honest than other pirates around the world, remains to be seen, but what it might do is enforce the retail marketing tactic of “…try before you buy…”.

Many sites are now offering the free streaming of music in return for allowing the airing of advertisements, or special deals on the purchase price of a later download.

Indeed, it may well turn out to be that the pirates might have inadvertently saved the music business from collapse and shown the industry ways to make their customers pay.

 

 

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