Legal Issues Don't Hinder American Downloaders

New York, NY -- Downloaders believe their actions are not hurting artists, according to Ipsos, the global marketing research firm. Despite recent efforts to educate the public on the need to respect copyrights and intellectual property in the era of peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing, only one-in-five downloaders age 12 and older agree that free downloading and peer to peer file-trading hurts artists. Past 30-day Downloading Grows, With Those Under 25 Driving Adoption New findings from TEMPO, the company's quarterly study of digital music behaviors, show that nearly one-fifth (18%) of the American population aged 12 and over report having downloaded a music or MP3 file in the past 30 days. This translates into nearly 40 million people within the current U.S. population (according to 2000 U.S. Census figures). This measure is slightly greater than earlier findings from TEMPO (April 2002), and suggest that American music enthusiasts are continuing to embrace the Internet as a convenient channel for music acquisition. This is especially true among Americans under the age of 25, with nearly half (48%) of 12-to-17 year olds and 42% of 18-to-24 year olds reporting they have downloaded music or MP3 files in the past month. These measures mark a gradual increase from April 2002, when 44% of 12-17 year olds and 36% of 18-to-24 year olds had taken part in this activity in the past 30 days. "Past month activity is often an indication of repetitive behavior, and thus this particular measure provides an idea of the proportion of the U.S. population that is regularly downloading music or MP3 files off of the Internet," said Matt Kleinschmit, a Director with Ipsos and the TEMPO research program. "This downloading could include anything from sampling music clips from artist-endorsed websites to peer-to-peer file-sharing, and provides further evidence that many Americans' are consistently using the Internet as a method for listening to and obtaining music." U.S. Downloaders Do So To Sample Music, And Believe Their Activities Are Benign The recent TEMPO research also reveals that nearly three-quarters (73%) of U.S. downloaders report their motivation for doing so is to sample music before making a purchase. Further, U.S. downloaders believe their actions to be okay, with few agreeing that downloading free music off of the Internet is wrong (9%), and only one-in-five (21%) agreeing that free downloading and peer-to-peer file-sharing hurts artists. Only 16% believe that record labels are justified in shutting down file-sharing services, such as Napster and Audio Galaxy, and two-fifths (39%) agree that making copies of music to give to friends is okay. "With recent efforts underway to redefine the role of copyright and fair-use in the digital age, this data clearly shows that current U.S. downloaders are interpreting both the motivations and legality of their actions on their own terms," continued Kleinschmit. "This suggests that copyright enforcement efforts are unfortunately being misinterpreted by these consumers, and additional education and awareness on the importance of intellectual property rights in this new era of content distribution may be necessary." Methodology Data on music downloading behaviors was gathered from TEMPO: Keeping Pace with Digital Music Behavior,, a quarterly shared-cost research study by Ipsos examining the ongoing influence and effects of digital music around the world. Data for this release were collected between December 12 and 16th, 2002, via a nationally representative U.S. sample of 1,112 respondents aged 12 and over. With a total sample size of 1,112, one can say with 95% certainty that the results are accurate to within +/-2.94%. In addition, data on the motivations for downloading were collected between December 17 and 31st, 2002, via a representative U.S. sample of 740 downloaders aged 12 and over. With a total sample size of 740 one can say with 95% certainty that the results are accurate to within +/-3.60 In addition, past contextual data was pulled from TEMPO data collected between April 25 and May 1, 2002, via a similar nationally representative sample. To learn more about the methodology please visit the TEMPO Homepage.

For more information, please contact: Matt Kleinschmit Director 612.573.8500