1 in 5 Brits listen to pirated music according to a new report from the UK’s Intellectual Property Office (IPO) entitled Online Copyright Infringement Tracker. The report is the ninth in a series of reports originally commissioned by Ofcom in 2012 to ‘monitor the impact of new online platforms on infringement behaviours.’
The overall summary reported that ‘For all categories, consumption (i.e. downloading, streaming/accessing content online) remained consistent or increased since the previous wave’ with music remaining consistent since last year. Across all categories of online content, a quarter (25%) had used an illegal source in the last 3 months. The overall level of music infringement (i.e. anyone who had used an illegal source for music in the past 3 months) remained stable between 2018 (19%) and 2019 (20%). Streaming accounted for only 2% of the total.
Above average infringement levels were seen for e-publications and live sports. Film, music, software and TV were close to, or just below, average infringement levels. Infringement for video games was notably lower than other categories.
Infringement of online content
35% E-publications
34% Live sports
27% Film
20% Music
18% Software
17% TV
6% Video Games
The report notes that, ‘The likelihood and perceived need to infringe was notably lower for categories in which substantial amounts of content are available via streaming subscription services. This was particularly apparent for music, film and TV. These services match up well with consumers’ motivation for accessing content online. While some would occasionally use illegal means (e.g. when content is unavailable via one platform) frequency of engagement in such activity generally seems to be low.’
Music piracy is on the decline largely driven by the increase in streaming. Recent reports from the Europe’s IPO counterpart, the EUIPO showed a 32% decrease in music piracy across Europe which is echoed in other parts of the globe. Australia, for example, has seen a decrease in music piracy from 37% to 25% in the past five years.
To download the full 158pp report which has extensive statistics on all of the online segments go here.
