File Sharing Tastes In Canada Mirrors US

Here are some details from a recent survey by Angus Reid Strategies regarding Canadian digital music tastes. The survey was presented during the recent Canadian Music Week:

• 45% say people who use peer-to-peer file sharing services to download music and movies are regular Internet users doing what people should be able to do on the Internet

• A majority of Canadian Internet users see no major problems with peer-to-peer file sharing, and most react negatively to the notion of a levy on ISPs that would help to compensate musicians for the music they create.

• An additional 27 per cent admit these people are “doing something they shouldn’t be doing” but say “it’s not a big deal.”

• In contrast, only three per cent agree with what has often been the music industry’s position that file sharers “are criminals who should be punished by law.” As for an appropriate remedy, one quarter of Canadians (25 per cent) feel that “technology should be developed to stop this.”

• The survey also indicates that an attempt to recoup lost revenues by imposing a levy on ISPs would meet stiff resistance. Nearly three-quarters (73 per cent) of online Canadians believe such a levy would represent “an inappropriate and/or unnecessary levy that would be passed down to consumers.”

• Among Canadian Internet users, 23 per cent say they have downloaded free digital music files from peer-to-peer file sharing sites in the past 30 days, while just 12 per cent have paid a fee to download digital music files from an online music store such as iTunes.

• A significant proportion of online Canadians have not bought into the idea of paying for online music. Proponents of file sharing have long held that the music industry is doing itself a disservice by attacking its own fan base, noting that these consumers are often the most voracious music enthusiasts.

• Those who downloaded an MP3 file from a free file-sharing service are significantly more likely to say they will buy a CD in the next month (41 per cent vs. 34 per cent for non-file sharers), and are more likely to have gone to a concert in the past year (65 per cent vs. 52 per cent for non-file sharers).

Everywhere you go, people seem to feel the same way about music these days and Canada is no different. Too many people feel that music should be free. Perhaps they're right, but musicians, songwriters and record labels the world over would beg to differ. The economic model of Music 3.0 will change our perceptions about music forever.