Dan Sabbagh, Media Editor
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Teenagers and students have an average of more than 800 illegally copied songs each on their digital music players, the largest academic survey of young people's music ownership has found.
The research also showed that half of 14 to 24-year-olds were happy to share all the music on their hard drive, enabling others to copy hundreds, or thousands, of songs at any one time.
Although illegal copying has become widespread, the scale of the problem uncovered by the University of Hertfordshire left the music industry surprised. On average every iPod or digital music player contained 842 illegally copied songs.
Fergal Sharkey, former lead singer of the Undertones and now chief executive of British Music Rights, said: “I was one of those people who went around the back of the bike shed with songs I had taped off the radio the night before. But this totally dwarfs that, and anything we expected.”
The average digital music player carries 1,770 songs, meaning that 48 per cent of the collection is copied illegally. The proportion of illegally downloaded tracks rises to 61 per cent among 14 to 17-year-olds. In addition, 14 per cent of CDs (one in seven) in a young person's collection are copied.
Illegal copying in some form is undertaken by 96 per cent of 18 to 24-year-olds surveyed, falling to 89 per cent of those aged 14-17. Nearly two thirds copy CDs from friends, and similar proportions share songs by e-mail and copy all the music held on another person's hard drive, acquiring up to 10,000 songs in one go.
British Music Rights argues that the solution partly lies in developing new legal services that make breaking copyright unappealing.
Mr Sharkey said: “The positive message is that 80 per cent of downloaders said they would pay for a legal subscription-based service, and they told us they would be willing to pay more than a few pounds a month.”
British Music Rights declined to release the exact amount but it is believed to be about £10 a month.
The organisation is trying to help the record companies to persuade internet service providers to sign up to a new type of music service, in which vast catalogues of songs are available for an add-on fee to a broadband package. Agreements with providers such as Virgin Media are expected in the next few weeks.
In France last week, Orange, France Telecom's mobile arm, reached agreement with all four main record companies to provide downloads of more than a million songs to mobile phones and home computers for €12 (£9.40) a month.
Music sales have been falling steadily and the big companies are desperate to strike subscription-based agreements rather than rely on one-off CD and download sales.
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I understand artists are just like regular people and need to get paid for their work, but who says they need millions and millions of dollars? Also, they make plenty of money off of concerts alone and I dont think we'll ever see a decline in demand for live performaces...
Daniel, Simpsonville, USA
For the top 5% of Artists : sharing = theft.
For the other 95% of Artists : sharing = advertisement.
I remember buying $16 CD's with only two good songs, now that's theft.
Whats next
Is the RIAA going to demand a nickel every time we hum a tune?
Anthony Wright, North Port, USA
Right on!
Kyrkos Ekaterinaris, Salonica, Greece
While buying the records doesn't give the artists much money, it still gives them some. I personally prefer to have the CD's anyways as opposed to individual songs. However, stealing songs takes away from the artists' profits, giving them less incentive to make the music people love to pirate.
Henry Anderson, Houston, United States
For the top 5% of Artists : sharing = theft.
For the other 95% of Artists : sharing = advertisement.
I remember buying $16 CD's with only two good songs, now that's theft.
Whats next..
Is the RIAA going to demand a nickel every time we hum a tune?
Anthony Wright, North Port, USA
Buying music gives the artist next to no money anyway. Its the record companies that profit from people buying the CDs.
If you want to support an artist buy their tshirts from gigs or download their tracks directly form their website (ala Radiohead style). This is where they get their money.
Tony, Norwich,
There are worser things happening in this world for God sake.
Natasha, Kidderminster, UK
I'm a teenager, what's so bad about the whole thing? I share songs by bluetooth off my phone. I know sharing the music for free seems unfair because the artists are making less profit out of it, but they already make more than all of us. If they're doing what they love, the money shouldn't matter.
Dom, CLW, UK
this doesn't dwarf the back of the bikeshed copying - when I was younger about 90% of my music was a taped copy of a friends album, and I had hundreds of albums. This didn't stop me buying further albums by bands that I really liked. Encourage the kids - sharing is the life blood of new bands.
Martin, Wallasey, UK
The RIAA should give music listeners more options. Not everyone can afford the luxury of 1 dollar songs, and if they can they can only afford so many, it's simply wrong in my mind. And, oh boo-hoo some artist can't have his own island because we steal, big deal.
Steven Wes, New York,
copying has been an integral part of art and culture since time immemorial. Record companies briefly controlled the means of transimission (with records tapes and CDs) ...but the power has shifted and either they will find a way to make small profits but probably they won't exist and wont be missed
Jon, Austin, TX, USA
Young people would agree to share the cost of subscription so the set up would to be complex restricting replication copying by creating some kind of 'single use' downloads.
Dongles also need to be more sophisticated.Surely with the amount of money currently being lost this would justify the outlay
Drew, Nottingham,
So do the music companies also plan to allow me to get a copy of all that music that I bought in old formats (cassette, vinyl etc.) in digital media at the distribution cost, rather than pay royalties again?
Seems fair as I have already bought the rights to listen to it..
Ed, Marlow, UK
The decline in profits is to be explained as follows-
- the fall of the price of a cd caused by increased competition (from supermarkets and online stores)
- the peak in sales of cds were partly caused by the release of old catalogue on cd.
Alex, London, UK
I guess these services will be WIndows only? Linux (ubuntu) needs a legal music service for the UK, otherwise we have to get our music illegally.
Mr Andrews, Edinburgh,
So many musicians these days are either independent or signed to small (very small) labels, 20p a track? If you spend 2 years writing and recording an album and you gross less than one pound for it,it's professional suicide! Becareful what you wish for , do you REALLY want CHEAP music?
Wilcey, Wilts, UK
This is hardly surrising: we were promised that digital music would be cheaper music, because of the removal of shipping, packaging etc. 79p a track in iTunes is daylight robbery, and a mug's game. Sell me tracks for 20p each, and I'll spend £20 - charge me 79p and I won't bother.
Harry Charleston, London,
I don't think the solution would be a subscription or "add on" service from an ISP, don't we all ready pay an extortionate price for a stone aged broadband connection? its just another case the UK getting shafted for second rate products by multi-billion pound companies...
James Blakemore, Wolverhampton, U.K
Anyone who honestly feels that the music industry is a victim...are you mad?! If you want to support the band you like go see them in concert or at a festival!
The music industry should lead by Radioheads example, offer the music for free and true fans will respect the talent and pay for it.
Sam, Hitchin, UK
The recording company earns most profit, the artists earn less. The listeners loses.That's a shame. That's a terrible shame.
Zilah, Sg, Singapore
so if these kids didn't download or share, would they actually go & purchase said music legally??? If the music industry really does get its way with criminalizing this, then there is always the radio. Teenagers simply don't have the cash to pay this much for music anyway! The industry is a dinosaur
The Judge, tunbridge wells,
all music should be made legal to download. The laws are out of date and always have been. What we need is copyright neutrality or something of the sorts. Where every artist is on a level playing ground, where everything is free. I see no place for the record label in our digital future.
ty f , Chelmsford,
If 98% of the people are doing it, how can it be considered to be illegal? I personally think that the old media (CD's & DVD's) are a tragic waste of resources and are major polluters of our environment during creation and disposal. They are designed to be trash & should be banned like plastic bags
Steve, Hamilton, Canada
Pay royalties on songs played out loud?
30$ for a CD that only has one GOOD song
Recording industries paying artists pennies.
Sounds very much like a mafia run whorehouse, pimp the goods, take all the money and impose a tax on anybody who hears the whore sing a bunch of bad songs.
E bratson, KCMO, USA
The consumer is elading the way. Record companies do not want to adapt to the new world. They prefer to defend the lucrative system they have. But the tide has turned and they risk becoming dinosaurs.
Fred, Sydney,
One needs to put this in perspective with regard to lost revenues to the record industry. People will illegally copy tracks for 'free' just because they can and not because they really want all the songs. 800 tracks on a MP3 player does not mean 800 track revenues lost.
Mike, Alicante, Spain
It depends what is meant by illegal. Currently copying from your own media (say CD) to another of your own media (say MP3) is illegal. In this case just about every MP3/iPod will have some illegal downloads.
The music industry needs to get real as the wheels are coming off the gravy train,
John, Shefford,
maybe we should give police extra powers to deal with this problem!!!!!!! like arresting people and put them in prison for 68 days.!!!!!
we are getting there!!! very soon and it will be too late to do anything about it.
ebbi britt, valencia, spain
In 1983, Frank Zappa - of all people- proposed to the music industry in the USA that they should make the contents of their vaults available via cable TV subscription method, costing maybe $11 a month to listen to whatever they liked. They told him to get lost. Shame on you, you didn't trust Mother
Clark Gwent , Newport, Gwent
I think the tighter restrictions on illegal downloads has probably caused the reduction in album sales. Most of my friends download songs by new artists illegally then buy the album if they like what they hear. They simply will not pay to buy an entire album that they can't preview.
jimmeh, glasgow,
I used to download a lot of the music on my iPod from iTunes, until i realised I was being ripped of at 79p a song while across the channel the cost was much cheaper. Now I either share my music with friends as always or download it for free, the music industry cant stop it.
Rach, Loughborough,
My music tastes haven't expanded a single bit since i stopped downloading music for free about four years ago. The music industry in the Uk is CRAP (I cannot stand the radio). Bring back WinMX! If you can listen to a whole album, without skipping a track- then the album deserves to be bought.
Rebecca, Cheshire,
Ten years ago when Napster first emerged, the record industry should have taken notice of the changing trend and began to think about how they could embrace it. Instead they chose to blindly clamp down, and have ended up alienating an entire generation of potential customers. Too little too late.
Dan, Bristol,
I download the occasional tracks -- a lot less than most people my age -- but I'm glad I don't live in America where the bizarre DMCA comes into force. I just find myself not actually caring about music that much; by the time I think about getting something to listen to it's been overplayed anyway.
Marc, Newcastle, UK
Copying music - tapes, radio, Cds - has always happened. I have certainly bought many CDs as a result of hearing them first as illegal downloads.
I've also bought many CDs which turned out to be junk - so try before you buy seems a better option.
The music industry is too greedy.
fred, manchester, England
This is brilliant! I remember there was a story along these very same lines a few years ago and the record companies flat out refused an "add on" to the current costs of ISP's and now it seems they would be more than happy to do this. They just have no idea how to sell there product!
Reagan, Exe,
ALL my music is stuff I've bought - I don't download anything illegally. What does annoy me nowadays is how often a full-price CD might only contain 35 minutes of music - now that's a REAL rip-off.
Michael Simpson, Stockholm, Sweden
This is nothing new, records were copied to cassette tape in the 70s & 80s. People loaned their records to friends who coppied them to tape.
Tom, Mac,
This is how it has always been - 20 years ago the average teenager would have had a similar proportion of their music collection on cassettes that would have been copied from other friends or the radio. The only difference is that music collections are now bigger thanks to new technology.
Simon Carter, London,
Music companies think they can win the total war they are waging with internet music downloads but illegal music sharers are effective partisans as they can never be pinned down in one place and no matter how many martyrs you make (like napster or kazza) more and more come to take their place.
Alex, Warwickshire,
musicians earn hardly anything from CD sales it all goes to the record company, they earn their money from playing gigs and performing. plus downloading cuts the amount of waste and plastics used.
the industry rips us off royaly and im sick of lining the pockets of the music industry executives.
Mea, Bath,
It's funny that the companies are finally just starting to realise that the Internet is the future for distribution. If they had acted sooner the problem wouln't be what it is now. You can't fight what the consumer wants, especially with how powerful the Internet is today. A solution is required.
Scott, Aberdeen,
Very interesting, but look at the maths. 1,700ish songs, 800 illegal. That means 900 legal - which also dwarfs back-of-bike-shed tape sharing. 900 songs at 50p a go - not bad for the music industry. Its not about percentage, its about volumes.
Ed, Marlow, UK
it's very common and very popular i think it's every were. i think there should be some change in the laws of piracy for it.
vipul, panipat, india
Artists get very little from the exhorbitant price of CDs. The majority of the price goes to the record company. Free music downloads will lead to increased sales/awareness of genuine artists, while "pop idol" type manufactured rubbish marketed by record companies will hopefully die out. Viva P2P!
Sacha, Marbella, Spain
In fact very few young, new, vibrant talents have ever survived through record sales. Most try to make a go of touring etc until they can be assured bigger sales, these laws mainly protect big, already overpaid bands.
download away folks, but do buy new music when you can.
Dan, Dundee,
Most artists make more from a live show than they ever will from recordings -a tiny % of the cost of CDs actually ends up going to the artist.
Copying music from friends has introduced me to artists I would never otherwise have heard (or bought), who I have then gone to see live. I don't feel bad.
Maxine, London,
Does the industry - or anyone with an ounce of sense - think that teenagers will pay for anything if they can get it for free?
When I was a teen it was common for one person to buy an album and then maybe 20 or 30 people would 'borrow' it copy it to cassette. What's the difference to downloading?
clivex, Bristol, England
Its not stealing it is called SHARING . People have always shared music with each other. The music industry with all their garbage new talentless acts are just fuming as their business model is at an end. They will have to find some new scam to pay for their cocaine and prostitutes.
Michael, London, UK
Students are more honest than I thought :)
At that rate they must average over £500 each of paid for music on their Ipods!
Peter, Maidstone, Kent
Because of anachronistic record companies and out-of-date copyright laws it's still illegal to rip legitimately purchased CDs onto a computer to transfer to an MP3 player.
As someone who doesn't download - illegally or otherwise - it means every track on my iPod is technically illegal.
Simon Ward, Leicester,
It's a fallacy that these people would have paid for the music if they hadn't obtained an illegal copy. The radio, or other "free" music would be used instead. People have limited funds for entertainment, the law won't change that. The fact the majority of music was paid is the impressive part here
Nick, Plymouth,
I agree with the above. Music is too expensive, besides if people like the music they are downloading, they will still go and see them live therefore buying a ticket.
Lewis, Northampton,
So,
If I buy a CD and the kids (3 off) like the music, are we saying that I should buy a copy of the CD for each member of the family? These people need to get real, this is (largely) ephemeral light entertainment that is listened to at the moment and then abandoned for the next song
John B, SWINDON, UK
No one feels much sympathy for the music industry any more than they do for microsoft or anybody else that has been ripping us off for years. Succesful musicians make obscene amounts of money, as do the record companies. May be without the big corporate trash we might get back to some real music.
Bob Reeve, Brighton,
£10 a month for unlimited DLs is great. Artists can be paid depending on downloads. Music will be listened to by many more people. But it would have to be one site where all record companies post songs for DL. It costs £1 to make a CD. Yet they charge £12+. they are criminalising youth.
Mike, Beijing,
I agree that the copy right laws are irrelevant.
I think people should be able to share their music files if they want to.
Stephen Holmes, Withington, U
When posters here say "the music industry must die" they are talking about destroying the ability of popular creative artists to sustain themselves economically.
I doubt these readers would work for free for anyone - so why do they expect musicians to work for free?
Steve, London,
More often than not a musician's heart and soul will be put into creating this music for people to enjoy. Who cares if they're multi-millionaires or not, don't they deserve to be rewarded?
People who illegally download a band's song and then dare to call themselves a "fan" of the band sicken me.
Kay, Motherwell, Scotland
Does this mean that musicians might have to start creating songs for love of music and not so their house will appear on the next episode of Cribs?
James, Dunstable, England
The above attacks on the music industry are bizarre. Reality is that very few artists earn megabucks and the salaries for most people who work in it (I should know, I'm one of them) are not huge. We're only getting paid half the time, so why are people surprised that we'd look to change this?
Matt Gorgone, Bromley,
Its the copyright law which needs looking at again and amending - not teenagers ipods !!!!
ian payne, walsall,
my heart bleeds for the poor music industry. Maybe if they hadnt ripped their british consumers off for decades by charging far more than un the USA or other Euorpean countries id feel a tiny bit sorry.
matt, glasgow,
The music industry should just die, infact it will even if the goverment passed a law that said they could take your hosue for copying one track people still would, we all know that they make 90% of the profit for doing nothing, and that our corupt MP's are willing to take that cash to change theLaw
MR W Jones, Liverpool, England
The music industry isn't able to adapt because it follows a old business model that neglects the long tail of sales. The profits for business tommorow are to be found in keeping customers happy until the time you sell them something profitable. They are currently losing their loyalty base.....
kevin, Lincoln, UK
Actually, why pay £10 a month when you can get it for free from friends' CDs? Would Madonna really starve? Will Amy Winehouse not be able to afford her drugs? We paid for the music when we bought the disc, and it's our business if we share it with friends. And we pay more than people in the US.
kiera, Glasgow, United Kingdom
It's not as if the music industry is losing 845 full price sales, despite what they might like us to think. If those tracks could not have been copied the vast majority would not have been bought. The greed of the music industry is legendary.
Dirk Bruere, Bedford, England
its hardly surprising is it when the current system rips off consumers and artists alike -itunes charges r too high, i hope the isp linked subscription would mean unlimited downloads which justifies both high speed broadband and huge hard drive storeage - what otherpurposes could there be for either
F C, newcastle upon tyne, uk
Get real Music Industry.......... Nobody cares!
If you're gonna rip off customers this is a natural consequence of that.
If you think it's a problem deal with it yourself.
There are real victims of crime that need intervention, not a multi £billion industry that can look after itself!!
Shaun, Newcastle, Tyneside