Net Profits Music Lovers

MORI Findings Show the British Public Turning Increasinglyto the Internet for Affordable Music

Many British music lovers increasingly see the Internet as their firstchoice for getting affordable and instantaneous music, according to topresearch house, MORI. In the findings of a recent MORI poll, well over halfof those surveyed said that the significant cost reduction associated withdownloading music from the Internet meant they got better value compared tobuying CDs from high street stores.

Creative Labs commissioned the MORI survey in order to gain a solidunderstanding of home audio technology trends, and to assess how far theBrits had entered into the ‘second stage’ of digital music. Creative alsowanted to discover what the public really thought of the technology whichwill change the way we listen to music forever and will force companies tochange the way they sell music.

Of those questioned, 49 per cent also cited being able to listen to themusic before buying as a major advantage of using the Internet, and asimilar number preferred the Internet as a medium for obtaining rare music.Almost 40 percent raced to find new music on the Internet whilst 14 per centsaw music downloading as a way of rebelling against the perceived might ofthe music industry.

Duncan Jackson, director of retail Europe, Creative Labs, said that thefindings closely reflected the company’s expectations. “It’s not anoverstatement to say that compact discs are likely to face obsolescencewithin the next five years, as more Internet users download music ontoportable digital audio devices that can carry thousands of tracks. Thesuperior sound quality of PC audio is supplanting the hi-fi as the main homemusic system, but finding more unusual tracks and getting to them first is amajor motivation of downloading music and the Internet will be the vanguardin driving down the costs for all involved.”

Simon Miller, new business director of peoplesound.com, Europe’s largestfree Internet download site for unsigned music talent agreed, “The Internetallows consumers the chance to download their favourite music in digitalformat and play it at CD quality on PCs, portable Digital Audio Players orvia their hi-fi equipment. It is no surprise that people have alreadystarted to adopt a cheaper, faster and higher quality way of buying andlistening to quality music.”

The survey also indicated that over a third of all people aged between 15and 24 believe they will stop buying CDs within five years, and 33 per centof Internet users questioned could envisage storing ALL their music on apocket-size portable device within the same time frame.

Research Summary:

For this survey, MORI interviewed 1,629 adults aged between 15 and 65between 6 and 11 July 2000.

What motivates you to download music from the Internet?

• It’s a cheap way of obtaining music – 59%
• Can listen before buying – 49%
• Allows you to find rare music – 49%
• Allows you to find new music – 38%
• Being the first to find new music – 15%
• Rebelling against the music industry – 14%

News page content input by Dominic Robinson, 2001.