Music users willing to pay for legal file sharing
4/20/2009 8:34 AM EST
Almost nine out of ten music users on the Internet - 86.2 percent - have expressed a willingness to pay for a voluntary subscription legally entitling them to file share music. The strongest willingness to pay for a legal file sharing subscription exist among the biggest collectors of music, i.e. those who have 5,000 or more songs in their digital music collection. This finding emerges from a recent survey conducted by STIM, the Swedish Performing Rights Society.
STIM conducted a survey of 1,123 Internet music users in Sweden, questioning them about their file sharing habits and opinions. The results indicate strong support for STIM's proposed special Internet subscription entitling the user to file share music legally. 86.2 percent of respondents state that they would be interested in a subscription for that purpose. Backing for the proposal is even stronger among the biggest collectors of music, i.e. those with more than 5,000 songs in their digital music collection, and among those who have paid for less than 10 percent of their music collection.
"The backing of music users is vital if our proposed file sharing subscription is to become a reality. The result of the survey clearly shows that a large majority of file sharers respect the music creators and their right to fair economic compensation", says Susanne Bodin, Head of Communications, STIM.
"STIM's proposal for a licensing model to make legal file sharing possible was launched a year ago, and still remains on offer to the ISPs. It is now about time that they start working seriously to offer their customers, and society in general, what they’re demanding", says Eva Modin, Deputy CEO, STIM.
The survey
In the period 30 December 2008 – 15 January 2009, STIM advertised on 250 Swedish Internet sites for volunteers willing to take part in a survey. Answers could be given in total anonymity. 1,123 persons completed the survey. While no selection process was conducted, this group cannot be seen with certainty as representative of the entire group of music users on the Internet.
For more information, please contact:
Susanne Bodin, Head of Communications, STIM, Tel. (+46)-8-783 88 18 or (+46)-70-224 70 53
Eva Modin, Deputy CEO, Tel. (+46)-8-783 88 44 or (+46)-70-890 61 00