More teenagers buying music online: study
Last Updated: Thursday, April 12, 2007 | 3:20 PM ET
CBC News
Canadian and U.S. teenagers are increasingly buying their music from paid-access services rather than getting it from unauthorized download sites, according to a new study by investment banker Piper Jaffray & Co.
Some 83 per cent of students download music online, up four points from 79 per cent in fall 2006, while 36 per cent buy their music from online services, an eight-point increase from 28 per cent over the same period, Piper Jaffray's 13th bi-annual teen survey released on Monday suggests.
The increase in the use of authorized, paid download services such as iTunes, Napster and Puretracks was accompanied by a decline in the use of unauthorized peer-to-peer (P2P) filesharing services, Piper Jaffray found. Use of unauthorized download services fell eight percentage points to 64 per cent from 72 last fall.
Attitudes toward paid downloads also showed a shift, with 24 per cent of those who get their music through unauthorized downloads saying they would consider buying music for 99 cents per track, a seven-point increase from 17 per cent in the fall.
"While P2P sharing is still the primary way teens get their music, buying online music is becoming more mainstream," Piper Jaffray analysts Michael Olson and Gene Munster wrote in a research note to clients.
Two years ago, just 20 per cent of students surveyed said they buy their music online as compared to one-third in the latest study, they noted, adding that "as long as there are easy options to download high quality music illegally without significant risk of detection, students will likely favour this method."
The company's retail research team surveyed about 600 teenagers in 11 cities in the U.S. and Canada, and partnered with youth organization DECA Inc. to complete an additional 1,200 surveys.
