p2pnet - rss feed: More people pay to download
About one out of six (16%) of American downloaders aged 12 and older had paid to download music or MP3 files from the Net in the first half of this year - prior to the recent release of multiple Windows-based online music services - says a report.
This represents a twofold over an earlier six month timeframe (8% in December 2002 and 13% in April 2003), says Ipsos-Insight.
"Demographically, young adults aged 18 to 24 are most likely to have paid to download digital music (22%)," says the research company.
"However, older downloaders are also experimenting with fee-based digital music acquisition, as 19% of downloaders between the ages of 25 and 54 reported to have also paid to download a music or MP3 file. Interestingly, downloaders aged 12 to 17 were the least likely to say they have paid for digital music."
Nearly one-fifth (19%) of US downloaders own a portable digital audio player / portable mp3 Player, "up from just 12% in December of 2002," adds the report.
"The rise in Portable MP3 Player ownership among US downloaders, coupled with the growth in paid downloading, suggests that digital music enthusiasts may be shifting their overall music acquisition and listening behaviors from a physical to a digital approach," says Ipsos-Insight’s Matt Kleinschmit.
"This should be positive sign for associated industries, in that legitimate market opportunities are increasingly prevalent in the world of digital music, even alongside unauthorized peer-to-peer filesharing."
