Media Coverage 2003

The National Post, April 22, 2003
Taking music off Internet not theft to young

By Robert Thompson

Downloading music over the Internet does not constitute theft to a majority of young Canadians, according to a survey released yesterday.

The survey, titled In The Name of Cool, and conducted by Solutions Research Group Consultants Inc., found only 31% of Canadians aged 12 to 24 believe downloading songs from the Internet is theft. That finding contrasted with the results from members of the so-called “Baby Boomer” generation, whose ages range from 40 to 60. The survey found 55% of the Boomer group agree digital downloading is theft.

The survey was conducted in February, with 1,500 participants interviewed by phone. The survey is deemed accurate plus or minus 2.5 points 19 times out of 20.

Michele Erskine, a vice-president with Solutions Research, said the results simply quantified something many had expected. “It is an example that people will rationalize that if something is easy to do, but hard to get caught, well it isn’t theft,” she said. “If you took a CD off a shelf and walked out of a store, that would be theft. But the Internet has allowed people to distance themselves from what they’re doing.

Nearly seven million Canadians have downloaded music from the Internet at some point, the survey found. Brian Robertson, president of the Canadian Recording Industry Association, said the survey is just another indicator of how dire the digital downloading situation has become for the music industry.

Mr. Robertson said music sales in Canada have fallen an average of 7% in each of the past three years. In response to concerns about the attitudes of young Canadians about digital downloading, the music industry has launched a “value of music” campaign. The aim is to show young consumers that if they don’t open their wallets and shut off their Internet connections, new music release could grind to a halt.

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