Filesharers Spend More Money on Music, Survey Finds

[Starke]

Assuming the rest of the methodology is good, ~1000 is the number of cases for most surveys. That means, a representitive sample.

 

[RRilef]

This survey doesn't tell us that people that pirate music buy more music, this actually tells us that people who will admit to pirating music on a survey also claim to spend more money than others. There are undoubtedly a good number of people who took the survey and lied about pirating music, and the people who do pirate music and admit it are very likely to inflate the amount they claim to purchase to try to justify their actions. You can't trust people to accurately report their behavior when it comes to something like this.

I consider surveys like this to be barely above making up numbers - they're good for internet forum fodder and nothing else.

Let me add a little bit to that. Yes, there is a correlation between pirating and buying music if you assume the results are reliable. But there is no way to say if pirating music, causes people to buy it too. People who like music are more likely to pirate, and buy music. If someone does not like music, they won't pirate it or buy it because they don't want it.

If there is one thing you can learn from a statistics class, it is never to trust statistics.

 

[Zer_]

On a related note. Until I started using zune marketplace I never ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever purchased music.

♥ ZunePass

By the way, if you add your gamertag to your profile here, your recently listened to Zune music also shows up. It's an undocumented feature

I'll often download music illegally, but I also purchase MP3s online in about equal amounts. It mostly depends on how easy or how hard any given album or track within an album costs.

 

[Andronicus]

If it's something I really want, I try to spend money on it. If I don't feel like spending money on it, I figure I don't really want it that much and ignore it. Sometimes it's just not practical, like when trying to find videogame music that I want; it's not available for purchase in stores or iTunes, and I don't enjoy importing things. In those cases I download them illegally.

 

[Fenixius]

I consider surveys like this to be barely above making up numbers - they're good for internet forum fodder and nothing else.

Assuming the rest of the methodology is good, ~1000 is the number of cases for most surveys. That means, a representitive sample.

Sorry Starke, but I'm with Virgil here. To call a ~1000 strong survey representative of a multi-million consumer industry is just impossible. It's not even 1%. Not even 0.1% of the total. It's obviously a very high total... but to call that tiny, teeny sample "representative" of the whole consumer-base cannot be justified by my reckoning.

I read the BBC report [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8337887.stm], too. There's no mention of the survey's method - is it voluntary? Was it on a website? Was it telemarketted? All these things have huge implications on the credibility and accuracy of the survey, but they're conveniently not mentioned...

Besides all of that, check out this quote from the article [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8337887.stm].

"While surveys asking people about unlawful behaviour should be treated with caution, it's encouraging that the findings signal that the three-pronged approach set out by the Government this week - a mix of education, enforcement and attractive new commercial deals - provides the best way forward for industry and consumers."

That's right! They A) understand that it's almost certain to be full of liars, and B) don't seem to have read their own survey results: this piracy thing is apparently -increasing- revenue, if you go by this report: file sharers spend more. Which is why we need to fight them, of course.

 

[Ancientgamer]

It's logically sounds. While pirates listen to way more music than they buy, I'd wager the ease of access brings up the amount of music they listen too. Bring up the amount, and there's a directly greater chance they'll find stuff they decide to buy. As opposed to people who don't listen to much music and save their money for one lady gaga album a year.

 

[Starke]

I consider surveys like this to be barely above making up numbers - they're good for internet forum fodder and nothing else.

Assuming the rest of the methodology is good, ~1000 is the number of cases for most surveys. That means, a representitive sample.

Sorry Starke, but I'm with Virgil here. To call a ~1000 strong survey representative of a multi-million consumer industry is just impossible. It's not even 1%. Not even 0.1% of the total. It's obviously a very high total... but to call that tiny, teeny sample "representative" of the whole consumer-base cannot be justified by my reckoning.

I read the BBC report [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8337887.stm], too. There's no mention of the survey's method - is it voluntary? Was it on a website? Was it telemarketted? All these things have huge implications on the credibility and accuracy of the survey, but they're conveniently not mentioned...

Besides all of that, check out this quote from the article [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8337887.stm].

"While surveys asking people about unlawful behaviour should be treated with caution, it's encouraging that the findings signal that the three-pronged approach set out by the Government this week - a mix of education, enforcement and attractive new commercial deals - provides the best way forward for industry and consumers."

That's right! They A) understand that it's almost certain to be full of liars, and B) don't seem to have read their own survey results: this piracy thing is apparently -increasing- revenue, if you go by this report: file sharers spend more. Which is why we need to fight them, of course.

You can get 99.5% validity confidance on a nation wide survey if you use the proper sampling methods. Like I said, this only applies IF the methodology is good, which this survey probably isn't. If the methodology is bad, such as internet or phone surveys, you're going to have problems. An internet survey is what's called "self selecting," which is essentially a fancy way of saying "next to worthless." This is because the sample isn't representitive. Now, in a self selecting sample, you have a slightly better chance of honesty, including people admiting to illegal actions, but, it really doesn't mean anything at all.

All I was saying was a sample size of a little over 1000 is enough for statistically signifigant results IF the methodology is good.

EDIT: There's two factors at work here though:

First, and I've seen this way too many times. People who use the internet to pirate copyrighted data tend to be awfually quick to justify their actions. Part of this is a psycological structure that causes individuals to generally have a hard time viewing their own actions as harmful without a justifying cause. (I'm phrasing this poorly, sorry.)

The second is: Research data will get a lot more attention if it says something you don't expect, or contradicts commonly held perceptions. When an article or research produces a result that "everyone already knew" no one really has a reason to care. In the media this can result in a rather paradoxical problem. Everyone knows that piracy is tearing apart the entertainment industry, so a study that says this isn't the case will get more attention than fifty or sixty studies saying what we already know.

EDIT2: I must be more tired than I thought, mybad.

 

[KDR_11k]

I would never have known about Punk Rock and Heavy Metal without filesharing (you ever heard it on a radio?) and would never have bought the CDs I did. Seriously, anyone with a taste in music that's not the samey-grindy pop stuff they play on the radio has little chance of learning about his style of music without that.

I don't do filesharing anymore but I do still listen to Heavy Metal (and even bought Brütal Legend because of it).

 

[The Bandit]

This is so misleading. In case you're completely thick, filesharing doesn't MAKE these people buy music legitimately. It just means they LIKE music. I highly doubt they use it to preview music. They download some albums- some they don't really like, but, wtf? it's free, right?- and then buy ones they do like.

uh hurr durr

 

[cleverlymadeup]

By the way, if you add your gamertag to your profile here, your recently listened to Zune music also shows up. It's an undocumented feature

ahhh the good old undocumented "feature", tho this one might actually be a handy one

either way i think there is some truth to the survey, it might be a bit skewed but i know i'm more willing to buy a cd of a band i've never heard of if i've had a chance to listen to it first. considering most of the stuff i listen to isn't played on the radio, pirating is about the only way i have to hear them

 

[Rogue 9]

While I agree that there's no way to call this definitive proof of anything, I do find it is representative of my own music buying habits. I definitely buy more CDs now than I did before I discovered the existence of file sharing networks. I was often reluctant to buy music by bands whose music I wasn't familiar with, regardless of recommendations. Now that I have a way to sample the music beforehand, I've bought quite a lot of albums I wouldn't have purchased otherwise, and have even bought legit copies of albums I've already downloaded if I particularly liked them.

I've even expanded the range of music I listen to. I wouldn't have gone anywhere near the metal section of a music store before a few months ago, now I go looking for bands I've heard of from browsing Wikipedia.

 

[Eric the Orange]

I dunno, I'd have to see how they got these numbers. I'm wary of the results of most any survey.

 

[lacktheknack]

Really, I doubt that the people who ONLY fileshared admitted to filesharing. At least the people who admitted probably felt partly justified from their large spending in between.

 

[Jharry5]

I've gotta say, I'm slightly weary of this survey.

Were all of those asked really telling the truth about something like this...?

 

[Gildan Bladeborn]

I'm not much for downloading music illegally - if an album is available for legal download at a non-exorbitant price, I'll happily purchase it (for reference: I've purchased 40 albums over the last 5 months). No, where I transgress in the eyes of the RIAA is that I then take the music I've purchased and burn CDs for friends and acquaintances, or give them copies of my mp3 originals, and I've done quite a bit of that.

By the definition of the RIAA, I'm a filthy pirate (even though I'm a paying customer), oh noes! I prefer to think of myself as a musical evangelist, spreading the good word about awesome bands the people I know have never heard of, creating new fans who may turn into loyal paying customers themselves - after all, statistically speaking you are 100% more likely to buy music from an artist that you've heard of (and enjoyed) than you are from an artist you didn't know existed (awareness being a prerequisite for the transactional model for the most part*).

[small]*The exception of course would be mystery bags/boxes, where the contents are unknown prior to purchase - for everything else, if you're buying it you are at least aware of it, no matter how little or much you might know.[/small]

 

[Plurralbles]

i bet it works with gamers too. how many people here don't game ata ll unless it's free?

 

[NamesAreHardToPick]

I've gotta say, I'm slightly weary of this survey.

Were all of those asked really telling the truth about something like this...?

Do you lie about answers in an anonymous survey? It's not like this was done as a facebook quiz where people try to show off to their friends.

I've largely stopped buying music ever since I quit pirating it back in the late 90s. Partly because it's really hard to mass-sample bands I might be interested in and want to buy, partly because I hate the recording industries for being such asshats about the whole thing. I think it's sad to see people defending the record industry's BS here and trying to make up shots at the credibility of the survey. It seems to match the experiences of more than a few posters already.

My wife buys bootleg movies at a local import mall... mainly stuff that's not going to come out here, some movies I missed in the theater before they come out legit. Anything that becomes available later on she gets legit for the bonus features and HD (if available). I doubt she'd buy nearly so many discs if she was influenced by fear and loathing of the movie industry to the same degree as I feel about music.

 

[Tipsy Giant]

I knew this was the case although i'd have been happier if they had spent the 77 quid on gig tickets so the artist got a penny