OSLO (AFP) – People who download tunes online for free are more likely to also spend money on new music over the Internet, a Norwegian study found.
“People that download music for free are ten times more likely to buy music on the Internet than those people who don’t download music for free,” Audun Molde, one of the BI Norwegian School of Management researchers who compiled the study.
The Norwegian research shows young people between 15 and 20 years old are the most active in downloading music for free.
But this same group also buy music online at least 75 times in a six-month period, compared to only seven times for those who have never download music for free.
“This shows there is a real willingness to pay for music on the condition that it is easily available. The music industry has to use new media rather than fight against it,” Molde said.
BI surveyed 1,091 people in November 2008 for the study.
