“Illegal downloaders have been a source of frustration for the music industry for over a decade, but they are willing to pay for music. Consumers downloading illegally want their music however they can get it, and making it available - at a cost - through alternate methods like Guitar Hero tracks, downloading to their gaming consoles or online video is the best way to mitigate their illegal behavior," said Josh Bell, Executive Director at Interpret and lead analyst of the report.
Additional findings include:
- 38% of the 64 million consumers who had downloaded a song or album in the previous three months had acquired a song through illegal means.
- Illegal downloaders are voracious music consumers who also pay to experience music in a number of ways, and they are buying music through their game consoles and playing music/singing games like Guitar Hero much more than their CD buying counterparts.
- Social networking sites are underutilized sales tools, as illegal downloaders are 50% more likely than CD buyers to have listened to music on a social networking site.
- While illegal downloaders also buy CDs - more than the average consumer, in fact - they are much more interested in individual songs.
“When consumers can pay a dollar a song to download, it's very difficult to get them to trade up and pay for an entire album. The music industry should replicate its strategy for CD sales by offering extra content with an album download," stated Bell.
