Unauthorized Music Downloads on the Rise

A European study released today confirms that illegal downloading of media from the internet is still a problem. The 27 country survey of the European Union revealed that children, while aware of the consequences of illegal downloads, continue to do so for various reasons. According to the respondents, seeing others illegally download music is frequent makes the makes it acceptable.

Furthermore, the children indicated that they had little fear of legal action and that mistakenly downloading a virus was a greater concern. On the bright side, the study also found that children were very much aware of online risks such as viruses, identity theft, and internet predators.

If this information seems familiar, you're right. A couple of months ago, a research study from the Entertainment Media Research confirmed the very same thing. The June 2007 study surveyed 1,700 adults and teens in detail and 300,000 adults and teens more in a less strenuous survey.

According to the study, 40% said they had downloaded music illegally in 2005. In 2006, the percentage dropped to 36%. However, in 2007 the number jumped 43%. Furthermore, each year, a small percentage of respondents said they planned to increase their unauthorized download activity; starting from 6%, to 8%, to 18%, respectively. This study too recognizes a drop in concern about legal prosecution. The percentage of respondents concerned about legal prosecution due to unauthorized music download activity is down from 42% in 2006 to 33# in 2007. Those most likely to download music illegally are males between the ages of 13-17. Not surprisingly, 91% of those who illegally downloaded music said they do so because its free. 42% said they do so because its easy to find everything their looking for. 15% said that improvements to internet speed (i.e. upgraded to broadband) have encouraged them to download unauthorized music.