Research shows illegal file-sharing directly hits Italian music sales

• A third of Italian illegal file-sharers have cut back on their purchase of physical music products
• Three-quarters of all Italians who download music have used copyright infringing peer-to-peer networks
• eMule is most commonly used illegal file-sharing network in Italy

Rome, 24th May 2007

Italy’s Luigi Einaudi Foundation ¹ has published new research about the illegal file-sharing of digital content that shows how the habit reduces consumers’ purchasing of physical music products².

The research shows that nearly a third of illegal file-sharers (30%) have cut back on the amount of physical music products, such as CDs and DVDs, they buy. Only six per cent of those surveyed said that illegal file-sharing increased their propensity to buy CDs, while 64 per cent of respondents said their habit did not change their music buying habits.

A massive 77 per cent of all those who said they download music have used illegal peer-to-peer (P2P) networks to obtain music, while only 23 per cent have used a legal online service.

The research showed that 31 per cent of those questioned had downloaded music or video from the internet in the last month. Nine-in-ten of the tracks downloaded were singles (91%), predominantly current chart hits. The most popular device for playing this material was a music player (84%), followed by hi-fis and MP3 players (39%).

The ability to obtain music for free was the main attraction for people who illegally file-shared music, followed by the ease of searching and availability of catalogue.

eMule is the P2P software most commonly used in Italy by illegal file-sharers (51%), followed by WinMX (25%) and Kazaa (13%). Only 2.7 per cent of illegal file-sharers said they use BitTorrent.

Three in five of those interviewed (61%) said the bought less than one CD a month and more than 30 per cent of this group buy no physical copies of recorded music at all.

Researchers interviewed wide cross-section of Italians, with 50 per cent of respondents aged between 15 and 34 years old, 25 per cent between 35 and 44 years old and 25 per cent between 44 and 54 years old. Nearly a third of those interviewed were office workers (29%), a quarter were students (25%) and the remainder were blue collar workers, managers, sole traders and retired people.

Most of those interviewed use internet at home (84%) and 77 per cent of respondents had used the internet for at least two years. Despite this, 68 per cent of the internet users questioned said they had only a basic ability in the “technology world”.

¹ http://www.fondazione-einaudi.it/Pagine/Default.asp
² The full study is available here: http://www.libercom.it/