Illegal Broadband File Sharing On The Decrease

According to a new survey conducted by leading digital music strategy company, Music Ally, and research specialists, The Leading Question, illegal broadband file sharing has decreased considerably since 2007.

The 1,000 strong UK music fan survey revealed that regular illegal file sharing had decreased to 17% in January 2009 from 22% in December 2007.

It is the younger music fans, aged 14-18, who have mainly stopped regularly downloading illegal files, with figures dropping dramatically from 42% to 26%.

Music video streaming is said to be the main reason for this with websites such as Spotify and YouTube allowing users to watch streaming music for free in return for watching or listening to a few advertisements.

Despite the drop in regular illegal file sharing, the number of users who have ever downloaded illegal files has increased. In December 2007, the figure stood at 28% but in January 2009 it went up to 31%.

Paul Brindley, the CEO of Music Ally said, “File sharing is a moving target, so industry and Government policies need to recognise this. It’s already being somewhat displaced by other means of accessing music for free. Some are licensed and some involve a bit of both”.

Brindley continued, “Kids find services like YouTube much more convenient for checking out new music than file sharing. But even YouTube can become a source of piracy with some kids ripping YouTube videos and turning them into free MP3 downloads”.