Piracy levels fall as music streaming grows

The growth of music streaming services is coinciding with a fall in piracy levels‚ a new study has found.

As the number of free music streaming services available on the internet increases, piracy levels have been falling, according to a new study.

Research group Music Ally found that 17 per cent of web users shared music illegally in January this year. In December 2007, the figure was 22 per cent.

Its consumer research division The Leading Question also uncovered evidence of a substantial drop in piracy levels among young consumers.

This comes as the music industry is looking for innovative ways to tackle the intellectual property issue by offering attractive legal alternatives.

Indeed, the proportion of 14 to 18-year-olds downloading copyrighted material illegally at least once a month fell from 42 per cent in December 2007 to 26 per cent in January 2009.

The research also showed that 65 per cent of teenagers now stream music for free from legal online sources every month, while 31 per cent do so every day.

A number of music streaming services have been launched in recent years, including Spotify, which offers music for free and pays copyright holders using revenue from advertising.

Video streaming website YouTube also pays copyright holders to host premium music video content, which web users can access free of charge.

Tim Walker, chief executive The Leading Question, said: "We believe the best way to beat piracy is to create great licensed services that are easier and more fun to use."

He said examples of these include the unlimited streaming service Spotify and the recently announced service from Virgin which will offer unlimited downloads and streams for a monthly fee.

A spokesman for the Global Gaming Factory, which bought the Pirate Bay after its founders were jailed over copyright infringement, told the BBC recently that his company plans to relaunch the site as a legal download service.