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Illegal Broadband Music Downloads Still Popular
A new music consumption survey has revealed that illegal music downloads using broadband are still as popular as ever with the younger generation.
The findings are in contrast to a study last month that found that illegal downloading was becoming less popular with younger people thanks to streaming sites such as YouTube and Spotify.
The new survey (the Annual Academic Survey) was commissioned by UK Music and investigated the music consumption behaviour and experience of 1,800 young people aged between 14 and 24.
The results showed that there had been very little change since 2008 in terms of how popular illegal downloading was. Around 61% of the survey base said that they still downloaded files using P2P networks and torrent trackers.
Furthermore, a staggering 83% of those people were doing so on a weekly basis.
It seems that while they know that it is wrong, they ignore the illegal aspect of sharing and downloading music.
The CEO of UK Music, Feargal Sharkey, said, “This is the second year we have run this survey with the University Of Hertfordshire’s Music and Entertainment Industry Management Research Group. As with last year’s results, this snapshot of how importantly young people rate music, how they are accessing it, consuming it, sharing it and copying it, makes for fascinating reading”.
Sharkey continued, “Ironically, for me, perhaps the biggest change is context. Over the past twelve months, the licensed digital music market has diversified enormously – epitomised by competition in the download market and the traction being gained by streaming services. Meanwhile, the prospect of commercial partnerships with ISPs lies tantalisingly on the horizon. And, of course, the UK’s artists and creative community continue to break new ground: innovating, experimenting and engaging with fans in all manner of new exciting and ways”.
“Clearly, the shape of our entire business will continue to evolve. However, we will achieve nothing if we do not work with music fans, and young music fans in particular. They are hugely demanding in their needs, but collectively we must rise to that challenge”.
Sharkey added, “We ignore engagement at our peril. That message is loud and clear”.
The survey did reveal some good news with many young people indicating that they would be willing to pay for an unlimited ‘all you can eat’ music download service.
Be Broadband Add 2 Months Free Deal
Be Broadband (www.bethere.co.uk) has launched a 2 months free broadband deal on all its 12 month broadband contracts.
The move follows similar deals recently announced by rivals such as TalkTalk and BT while Be’s parent company, O2, are also offering a 2 months free broadband incentive to switchers.
Be’s announcement comes just a few weeks after the company’s rebrand and provides those people switching to Be with a saving of up to £43.
Be’s broadband packages provide download speeds ranging from up to 8Mbps to up to 24Mbps. Prices start from £13.50 a month to £21.50 a month.
All packages include a free wireless router and come with an unlimited monthly download usage allowance. Upload speeds are reported to be up to 2.5Mbps on the Be Pro Broadband option.
The 2 months free broadband offer is available now at the www.bethere.co.uk website.
Users can also read our review of Be Broadband here.
Faster Broadband Won’t Entice Online TV Viewers
A new survey has revealed that faster broadband speeds may not necessarily draw more people online to watch their favourite TV shows.
The YouGov and Deloitte research found that 53% of the 2,123 surveyed would not watch more TV online even if there were faster broadband speeds available.
Furthermore around 29% of those surveyed thought that there was very little importance in being able to watch TV shows online.
It is mainly the younger generation aged between 18 and 34 years who are currently watching web TV on a regular basis.
However, even this group said that if broadband speeds were faster it would be unlikely to affect the length of time they would spend watching their favourite programmes online.
News programmes and comedy are the main types of TV content watched online, whereas just 7% of people surveyed watched reality TV over the internet.
James Bates, the Media and Telecoms partner at Deloitte, said, “Stimulating investment in a next generation broadband infrastructure for Britain has been at the heart of the Digital Britain debate. However, making high speed broadband access widely available to consumers is no guarantee that it will be taken up”.
Virgin Media In Free Broadband Install Incentive
Virgin Media has put in place a free broadband installation incentive to aid new customers switching to its fibre optic broadband service.
The offer is available online only at the VirginMedia.com website and provides an instant saving of £30.
To qualify, customers have the choice of ordering any broadband only package, any broadband and phone deal or any broadband, phone and TV bundle.
Virgin Media’s broadband only packages start from £15 a month for unlimited 10Mbps broadband speeds, while their broadband and phone deals start from just £5 a month and include unlimited UK weekend landline phone calls.
A free wireless router and PC Guard security is included as standard together with useful V Stuff extras like online storage and back up.
Customers ordering a broadband, phone and TV bundle from £14 a month will also get a £20 credit added to their first bill.
Our Virgin Media Broadband review has further information.
TalkTalk Add 3 Months Free Broadband & Phone
TalkTalk (talktalk.co.uk) has today launched a new 3 months free broadband and phone offer.
The online offer is available for a limited time only and applies to TalkTalk’s Essentials package which includes up to 8Mbps broadband, evening & weekend UK landline calls, plus anytime local phone calls.
A free wireless router plus free calls to 0845 and 0870 numbers are also part of the package.
TalkTalk’s Essentials usually costs £6.49 a month, which means new customers switching to TalkTalk can make a further instant saving of £19.47.
The 3 months free broadband and phone offer will be supported by a heavy weight national press and outdoor marketing campaign and runs into the first weekend of TalkTalk’s sponsorship of the X-Factor 2009.
Readers can find out more at the talktalk.co.uk website or our TalkTalk Broadband review.
Virgin Media In National Broadband Speed Promise
Virgin Media (www.virginmedia.com) has unveiled a new National Broadband Best Speed Promise to coincide with the upgrade of its national broadband packages.
The Best Speed Promise aims to guarantee new customers clear information on their likely broadband speed whilst also removing any unrealistic marketing speed claims.
It comes following a recent report from regualator Ofcom that found that many consumers are being promised broadband speeds by their supplier that their lines cannot support.
The Chief Executive Officer of Virgin Media, Neil Berkett said, “Many consumers are confused by speed claims that are, at best, misleading and, at worst, disingenuous. I hope our National Broadband Speed Promise will help people choose the product that’s right for them and set a new standard of transparency for the whole industry”.
Graeme Oxby, MD for National broadband at Virgin Media also commented by saying, “Our new speed promise demonstrates we are putting our money where our mouth is”.
Oxby continued, “We’ve upgraded our National broadband service with the latest superfast technology, meaning our customers can now benefit from faster speeds at no extra cost and with the launch of our phone-line service, we’re able to save customers even more money on bundled services”.
Virgin National Broadband packages are available to homes that are outside Virgin Media’s fibre optic broadband network. They use the latest ADSL 2+ technology to deliver broadband speeds now up to 20Mbps.
Prices start from just £5 a month for a bundled Virgin broadband and weekend phone call service that includes a free wireless router kit, PCguard security featuring Kaspersky AntiVirus protection, backup and storage space, plus up to 100 free photo prints per month courtesy of the V Stuff service.
Customers ordering Virgin national broadband will also be able to take advantage of a special Virgin mobile broadband offer of just £5 per month for 1GB of monthly downloads and speeds up to 1.8Mbps.
Readers can find out more at the virginmedia.com website or our Virgin Broadband review.
