The Harris Poll^® #5, January 28, 2004

Americans Think Downloading Music for Personal Use Is an Innocent Act

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While the news media have been filled with stories about what some are calling "Internet music piracy," a large majority of the American public views downloading music for personal use as an innocent act, and thinks the high price of CDs leads to a lot of downloading. These are the results of a Harris Interactive survey of 2,306 adult Americans conducted online between September 16 and 23, 2003.

Fully three in four adult Americans (75%) agree that "downloading and then selling the music is piracy and should be prohibited, downloading for personal use is an innocent act and should not be prohibited."

This is consistent with a Harris Interactive survey of teens released in October 2003 which showed that roughly three in four teens feel that downloading music files without paying (74%) and letting others download files from them (78%) should be legal.

An almost equal 70% say, "If the price of CDs was a lot lower, there would be a lot less downloading of music off the Internet."

The potential financial impact of downloading on musicians and recording companies may not be fully understood by the American public. Nearly two of three adult Americans (64%) agree that musicians and recording companies should get the full financial benefit of their work. While the music industry views downloading as an issue of property rights, agreement with the three statements reported on to this point is at virtually identical levels among Republicans and Democrats, and liberals and conservatives.

While only a small majority of adults (54%) agree, "downloading music off the Internet is no different from buying a used CD or recording music borrowed from a friend," the differences by age are large. Younger people are much more likely to agree with this statement – 70% of 18 to 24 year olds and 66% of 25 to 29 year olds agree; and there is a decline with age – only 36% of people 65 and older agree with the statement.

All of this suggests that the music industry is fighting an uphill battle in winning the hearts and minds of Americans to support prohibitions against downloading. Their opportunity is to make the as yet unmade link in the public’s consciousness between downloading and its financial impact on musicians and recording companies.

"There has been a lot of news lately about what some are calling ‘Internet music piracy.’ Please tell me if you agree or disagree with the following statements."

Base: All Adults

"There has been a lot of news lately about what some are calling ‘Internet music piracy.’ Please tell me if you agree or disagree with the following statements."

Base: Adults Who Agree

"There has been a lot of news lately about what some are calling ‘Internet music piracy.’ Please tell me if you agree or disagree with the following statement: Downloading music off the Internet is no different from buying a used CD or recording music borrowed from a friend."

Base: All Adults

The Harris Poll^® was conducted online within the United States between September 16 and 23, 2003 among a nationwide cross section of 2,306 adults. Figures for age, sex, race, education and number of adults in the household were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. "Propensity score" weighting was also used to adjust for respondents’ propensity to be online.

In theory, with probability samples of this size, one could say with 95 percent certainty that the results have a statistical precision of plus or minus three percentage points of what they would be if the entire adult population had been polled with complete accuracy. Unfortunately, there are several other possible sources of error in all polls or surveys that are probably more serious than theoretical calculations of sampling error. They include refusals to be interviewed (non-response), question wording and question order, and weighting. It is impossible to quantify the errors that may result from these factors. This online sample is not a probability sample.

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