More teens using legal online music download services

The number of American and Canadian teens downloading music from legal online music services has increased, says a new report.

by Helen Leggatt

Piper Jaffray & Co.’s 13th bi-annual teen survey, released last week, found that the number of teens downloading music has increased by 4 percent since fall, 2006, up from 79 percent to 83 percent.

Survey results also revealed that while the illegal downloading of music from peer-to-peer (p2p) is still prevalent, the number of those purchasing music from online services, such as iTunes and Napster, had increased 8 percent to 36 percent. Two years ago just 20 percent of internet users purchased their music online.

The use of illegal sites also dropped, by 8 percent, to 64 percent.

"While P2P sharing is still the primary way teens get their music, buying online music is becoming more mainstream," Piper Jaffray analysts Michael Olson and Gene Munster wrote in a research note to clients, reports CBC.ca.

Not all music downloaders using p2p networks are out to “steal” music, say some experts. Some are active in the “feel good” sharing experience associated with the online social phenomenon and some simply have no means by which to pay for online purchases, such as a credit card, which is a requirement of the large legal sites.

Despite the rise in online music purchasing there appears to be no decline in p2p use. Recent research from NPD found the number of U.S. households using it to download music rose 7 percent in the last year.