Research
Music piracy
(name author)
, Research Music Piracy
Research
Music piracy
Author: (name)
Client: Stenden University of Applied Sciences
Reviewer: (name)
Place: Leeuwarden
Date: 04-04-2014
Version: 1.0
2
, Research Music Piracy
Table Of Content
Introduction......................................................................................................................................... 4
The context of the problem............................................................................................................. 4
Significance of the study ................................................................................................................. 4
Objective.......................................................................................................................................... 4
Research questions.......................................................................................................................... 4
Literature Review ................................................................................................................................ 5
Aspects of the problem ................................................................................................................... 5
Methods and techniques used in related research......................................................................... 6
Methodology and procedures ............................................................................................................. 8
Research focus................................................................................................................................. 8
Method ............................................................................................................................................ 8
Sampling design............................................................................................................................... 8
Data collection ............................................................................................................................... 10
Data analysis .................................................................................................................................. 10
Summary ........................................................................................................................................... 12
List of references ............................................................................................................................... 13
Appendices ........................................................................................................................................ 14
3
, Research Music Piracy
Introduction
'One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain'. This is a statement of the world
famous reggae singer Bob Marley. When he said that, he probably would not have known that artists
could feel pain the last few decades. Because of the illegal downloading of music, called ‘ the music
piracy ’, many artists and record labels are robbed from their incomes. It is a problem that, it seems,
is not easy to deal.
The context of the problem
Digital piracy has been defined as the illegal act of copying digital goods for any reason other than
backup, without permission from or compensation to the copyright holder (Marshall, 2013; Gopal,
Sanders, Bhattacharjee, Agrawal, & Wagner, 2002).
According to the website DJGuide (2012) the music industry is ended up in a downturn, by
technological advances, the smartphone industry and the disappearing of record stores. Music piracy
has a big role in this changing industry. Many people do music piracy, and this problem has a difficult
dilemma. Many people from all over the world are downloading illegally music and they probably do
it anonymous, which makes it difficult to tackle this problem. Besides that, if someone, as a friend or
family member, is downloading music illegally, the border will probably become easier to do it as
well. But, what is the impact of the environment on students?
Significance of the study
The importance of the study is to get insight into the actions (as a result of the behavior) of students
regarding to music piracy. There are not many researches about this topic which can explain why
students have the incentive to download illegally music. So, important to know is why students work
at music piracy. That behavior must be based on something, probably influences in the environment
of the student, which will be examined.
Objective
The objective of this study is to explore students' music piracy behavior in the environment of
students.
Problem statement
The problem statement will be:
To what extent are students doing music piracy if they have legally alternatives?
Research questions
The research questions to answer the problem statement are as follows:
1. To what extent students think they are affected in their environment?
2. Why are students do not using legally alternatives?
3. To what extent will students be influenced if their environment is using legally music?
4
, Research Music Piracy
Literature Review
Aspects of the problem
Four opportunities are the reasons for doing criminal behavior what digital piracy is: pseudo-
anonymity and true anonymity on the Internet, higher costs and to live in a subculture (Chawki,
2006). Also, a cause of the digital piracy is the lack of connection between artists and fans, according
to Condry (2004). Record companies relied heavily on promoting songs, such as TV commercials, with
hit songs, rather than developing a fan relationship with artists and groups. Thereby the fans did not
mind if they simply copy the music CDs. However, if the connection between artists and fans is
viewed as more direct, people will buy a CD (Condry, 2004), but only if fans see music as the art and
lifeblood of a group. So the problem could be solved if this is considered as a foundation for building
alternative compensation systems (Condry, 2004).
A new study in 2013 was found that a large part of users who are very interested in music, visited
both "pirate" sites and online music stores (Walton, 2013). 'In fact, they discovered that clicks on
online music stores would be down two percent were it not for the existence of these "pirate" sites'
(Walton, 2013). Also, free legal streaming options are becoming more important for the music
industry, because the revenues for this industry will increase.
According to the BBC (2014) the latest tool to stop music piracy is a free smartphone app to give
young people insight into the modern music industry and to educate them for the effects piracy has
on artists. The goal of the app makers is 'to convey a message about the value of creativity in a fund
and interactive way' (BBC, 2014).
The reason why people just download something while it is actually forbidden, is interesting to know.
According to Aukerman & Mott (2002), research found out that people may agree on the illegality of
cybercrime, but might not consider it unethical. It some contexts, like due to personal or workplace
ethics, they tolerate or even encourage it (Seale et al., 1998). Students also acknowledge that
downloading music is illegal, but they justify it in terms of their antipathy towards the recording
industry (Condry, 2004).
Music piracy is an issue all over the world. The two largest music markets in the world are the United
States and Japan, and they both have to deal with the music piracy. However, in Japan is this not
such a big problem as it is in the USA. Japan even gives some permitting to copyright infringement
compared to the USA.
In the United States, The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) hopes that this "culture"
of file-sharing online will change. According to this organization, digital rights management (for
example teaching youngsters) and alternative compensation systems (for example new methods to
support artists) are used in the USA to change this culture. Japan uses the law differently (Condry,
2004). Besides that, in Japan fans can rent a CD for $3 after three weeks the CD has been released
(instead of the original price of $25). So, according to Condry (2004), 'US record companies may be
fighting the wrong battles' (Condry, 2004, p. 352). They only focus on the law.
Of course rent CDs to customers is not the solution to stop music piracy, but it gives some new
opportunities in the way how to handle this problem in the best way.
5
, Research Music Piracy
But a trend as the developing and implementing of new technologies, is not enough to stop the
music piracy. 'Users will copy objects as long as it possible and interesting to do so' (Biddle et al.,
2000).
There has done some research as well, about justification belong college students for digital piracy,
like interviews. A lot of students justified digital piracy, which may partially result from low moral
judgment. People who tend to neutralize moral inhibitions already have lower moral judgment. But
another alternative could be that the participants during the interviews tried to hide their low moral
judgment when discussing more serious crimes. Except low moral judgment other factors plays a role
in this justification as well. Future research can strive to identify these factors (Yu, 2012).
The reasons why people have justifications for digital piracy are: a lack of perceivable, still would not
pay for software or music if digital piracy were not existent (always find alternatives), blaming the
victims for contributing the piracy, and a diffused responsibility for downloading.
One of the solutions, as already written, could be alternative compensation systems. The 360 deal is
probably one of these alternatives. With a 360 deal record labels receive a portion of income from
revenue streams, such as merchandising and publishing. It has become common in the recording
industry (Marshall, 2013).
According to Marshall (2013), the 360 deal created possibilities for weathering the labels' current
problems, and also for new artists because the 360 deal is at good experience during crisis to invest
in it. However, because many record labels does not know how the music industry will develop, they
are taking the 360 deal and want to have every specific part where they can receive income from the
artist. A current development is that labels are seeking for incomes from all forms of musical activity
(like a network of clubs, discos and dancehalls, but also ticket outlets and concert promotion
companies), which create an alternative compensation system for music piracy.
Methods and techniques used in related research
In related research qualitative and quantitative inquiries were used.
For understanding college students' justification for digital piracy, they used a qualitative interview
method to 40 students (20 males and 20 females) in Pennsylvania (in the United States) regarding
their perceptions of digital piracy. All the participants were recruited from a computer lab inside the
library. If the student agreed to participate, face-to-face interviews were maintained directly. A card-
sort technique was used to compare 23 crimes during the interviews and also content analysis was
conducted. The interviews took an average of 25 to 30 minutes.
In order to make quantitative inquires, they used two research questions combined with the results
of the qualitative inquiry. The participants had to sort the cards 'according to crime seriousness by
their own definition and ranked them in order' (Yu, 2012, p. 366) and they were asked why they think
a specific crime is more serious or less serious compared with other crimes.
The second research was a quantitative inquiry. An online survey was used from a few universities in
the United States. 359 responses were kept for analysis, consisted of 205 females and 154 males. The
technique for measuring was the-point Likert-type scale and SRM-SF. The researcher used two
research questions and two hypotheses regarding to the justification for digital piracy.
Qualitative and quantitative inquires were also used for research to cultures of music piracy in the
USA and Japan, namely fieldwork, surveys and discussions with US college students. For example, the
6