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by CBC staff
CBC News Online
Jun 25, 2004
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After suffering a sharp drop last winter,
file-sharing of copyrighted music appears to be on the rise again and
few Canadians have visited the new pay sites, according to a Toronto-based
research firm.
A survey by Solutions Research Group indicates that young Canadians
are returning to downloading music files. Though deterred by legal action
against hundreds of downloaders in the U.S. last winter, about half
of the study's teen respondents said they downloaded music files this
spring.
"At the end of 2003, following the much-publicized the Recording
Industry Association of America (R.I.A.A.) action in the U.S., the reported
use of peer-to-peer services by young Canadians dropped sharply,"
study director Kaan Yigit said in a statement.
"Our research now indicates that free download activity has bounced
back significantly. Free downloads are too hard to resist, despite greater
awareness of intellectual property issues surrounding music."
Study highlights:
51 per cent of respondents aged 12-19 reported downloading music files
in spring 2004 on a "past month basis." This number is lower
than the 60 per cent reported in spring 2003 but higher than the 40
per cent reported following the American legal action in the winter
of 2003.
The R.I.A.A. suits affected the attitudes towards downloading, especially
among younger Canadians, with 42 per cent of respondents aged 12-29
now agreeing that illegal downloading is theft. In 2003, only 35 per
cent believed it to be so.
The proportion of "fence-sitters" on whether illegal downloading
constitutes theft increased from 11 per cent in 2003 to 21 per cent.
The study also indicates that Canadians are not visiting paid download
websites, such as Puretracks and the relaunched Napster. The research
firm reported that only eight per cent of Canadians have ever visited
a paid download site, and most didn't buy anything; 80 per cent of visits
were simply to browse the offerings, the study said.
"Many Canadians want to do the right thing, but the value for money
proposition for paid downloads at $0.99 per song is not perceived as
attractive and for this reason, there are very few buyers," Yigit
said.
"The market for 'legal' downloads appears very limited, except
perhaps as a promotional tool to build traffic."
The research group interviewed 1,605 Canadians over the age of 12 in
May 2004 for the study. Results are accurate plus or minus 2.4 percentage
points for the population as a whole, 19 times out of 20.
Written by CBC News Online staff
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