Illegal music file sharing drops significantly since 2011

Sophos said:

The number of people using peer-to-peer (P2P) services to download music fell by 17% last year, compared to 2011.

That's according to the NPD Group's Annual Music Study 2012, released yesterday.

Some other interesting stats, comparing 2012 to 2011:

• 26% decline in number of files illegally downloaded using P2P services;
• 44% less music files burned and ripped from CDs owned by friends and family;
• 25% drop in files swapped from hard drives; and
• 28% fall in volume of music downloads from digital lockers

P2P sharing peaked in 2005 when 1 in 5 internet users aged 13 or older were using the services, but last year only just over 1 in 9 (11%) internet users were downloading music this way.

Read more: http://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/201...-file-sharing-drops-significantly-since-2011/

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Intelligent said:

Maybe it's because there are file providing devices like media fire providing it or because people are using YouTube to mp3 converters... I've noticed people using that at school a lot.

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Of the Top 10 fastest growing markets on BitTorrent, only France has access to the music streaming service Spotify, whereas in the top 10 fastest shrinking countries, Spotify is available in 5 the markets (including the Top 2).

This implies, (although does not prove causation) that the proliferation of free to access or low cost streaming services is making a dent piracy rates in the countries where those services are available.

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