A month after download law, consumers spending less on music: survey

[EzikialRage]

Is this evidence that that the notion that illegal downloads represent lost sales is simply false?


http://www.japantoday.com/category/...d-law-consumers-spending-less-on-music-survey

TOKYO —

On Oct 1, knowingly downloading copyrighted music and video in Japan became punishable by up to two years in prison and a 2 million yen penalty.

The law was passed in June after the Japanese music industry, the second largest in the world after the U.S., reported continued financial losses, with analysts suggesting that just one in 10 downloads were legal.

Since the law came into effect, there have certainly been some changes, and many Internet users have become reluctant to click that download button for fear of receiving a hefty fine, meaning that the law has been a success in a way.

According to a recent statistical survey, however, since the law was passed, sales of music in Japan have continued to fall and consumers are actually showing less interest in music than ever before.

Livedoor News reported that the results of a consumer survey show that more than 68% of respondents spend “0 yen” on music in an average month; the highest the figure has been in almost 10 years.

The multiple choice survey asks consumers, “How much do you spend on music in an average month?” with answers ranging from “0-500 yen” to “over 10,000 yen.” “0 yen” has risen significantly since 2004, while numbers of every other response have decreased each time since 2007.

Is this the effect of the new download restrictions? Has Japan’s new draconian law actually had a negative effect on music sales? Or has the Japanese government simply noticed that music sales continue to fall and mistakenly pinpointed illegal downloads as the cause?

http://en.rocketnews24.com/2012/11/...nsumers-are-spending-less-than-ever-on-music/

 

[wirama]

I download illegally to hear if the music is worth to buy or not. if it's good, I always buy the original CD. it's just that simple! either they will buy the original or not everyone, pirated music, games, movies, to see if it's worth their money.

you can't judge good music, games, and movies if you didn't feel in your own sense.

 

[TravelingWind]

When will draconian gov's learn? Restricting liberties in order to combat another problem not how you solve a problem ,Tsk Tsk.

 

[cattz]

200,000-500,000 + seeds on Share and the like the day after everything from movies to anime to hentai is released still...

But yeah, it made "such a difference" I'm sure, heh..

:tea:

 

[hhsquall]

I'm not from Japan, and I came to know about Japanese product (Anime, JRPG, JMusic, etc.) as well as Japanese culture because I could download their product (illegally, of course as there were lots of restrictions where I used to live). And on top of that, I got many of my friends and family members around me interested in Japan's history and culture; I even took Japanese classes up to intermediate level...
So, it is always my argument: Now I can afford some of their product, and I am buying them (mostly Games, and some Anime) - I even bought some old titles I had downloaded previously, as I enjoyed them immensely! If I didn't have access to them in the first place, with my background, and in my old country, I would have never become infatuated with their products! So, in the long run, I became one of their consumer!
It is true that there are people who always look for a way of getting out of paying for what they use (which with no amount of restrictions or legal mumbo-jumbos they would consider "Oh! I am doing wrong here, my eyes are open now! and I will pay you from now on" !!! ), but they are not the majority. This group will either stop using that line of product, or look for a workaround!

IMHO, the best strategy that they can use is to advertise about all the hard work that is put into putting out a title, i.e. a manga artist who is paid for about $10/hour for the tedious artistic work he/she puts into drawing every single page, or the financial challenges of a company in a very 'easy-to-understand' way for a regular users...

I personally love Japanese franchise, but I never ever go about buying an anime, music, game, unless I make sure that I will enjoy it, and since I know that "if I don't pay for this product that I find so enjoyable, I am going to put a block on the future of such product..." so I buy it even if I had it downloaded in the first place (of course as much as my wallet allows). For a similar reason, I completely stopped watching/listening to anything from Hollywood, as they have been trying to use their power/influence to pass a law on online traffic control! and have sent countless court orders/settlement request to individuals in north America who shared their "art!!" online... :exhausted:

BTW, thanks Akiba-online members and staff for maintaining this great site :cheer:

Peace out :tea:

 

[camlost245]

hmm... I don't like the law, but I do think one month might be too quick to determine it's effect on the industry.

 

[prophetomega]

People who wish to support the artist they like will always buy, but those who just want to experience/hear the music of a particular singer, would always hesitate and thus they download it for free/illegally to know if its really worth it.

 

[Ceewan]

For most of people it's become a habit - not to pay for that content

It would be hard, if not imposssible, to ever convince the music and movie industries, that giving away a product is good business. These industries support political campaigns with the sole desire to have their interests looked after. As long as the candidates they support are elected, no matter the country, laws are going to be made that support their outlook and view. Political campaigns cost money.

I used to spend a good amount of money on movies, music cds and video games. When I had the money to spend, which I no longer do. When times got financial challenging for me I looked for alternative methods and free...well that is a hard price to beat. So if I start making money would I go back to spending it on buying stuff I can get for free? Fuck no. I will spend the money on other forms of entertainment and just dowload less.

These types of laws are not going to force me to buy more media. I had gotten sick of the outrageous prices they were charging before I stopped buying these "products" which we label as media and I am not going back to paying these leeches. Apparently, I am not the only one.

Let these media corporations come up with some innovative ideas and stop milking the public, including me, for all they are worth and then...only then, well I consider supporting the people that actually deserve my support: the artists and creators behind the product and not the distribution companies that are as outdated as the copyright laws they seek to protect.

 

[Glassjaw]

I download more music and thus goto more gigs which supports the artist directly. Though, Spotify is how I listen to most music these days.

 

[xeffects]

I will admit I have downloaded many albums illegally but once I realize I like the music, I usually go out and purchase the actual album + others. I downloaded one of the Girls Generation album and listened to the whole thing and I realized I loved it. A month later, I deleted the album and ordered all of their albums from Amazon.com.

The world doesn't seem to understand, that they can never control the NET, the NET represents the world, you can't police the entire world through a cybernetic network, that is like trying to be "eNatzi".

 

[Kumi3]

There's never been any proven correlation between unauthorized downloads and so-called 'lost' sales.

The majority (but not all) of my mp3 downloads duplicate what I've already forked out for on vinyl and CD.

I also download a shit load of (e)books, but I still purchase what I can.

Realistically, if I couldn't download much of what's available on the internet, I still wouldn't be purchasing it.

And who can really say they could afford to pay for everything they download ? A bare handful on this planet, I would imagine.

A download equals a lost sale - it's a fantasy.


At the end of the day bringing a halt to digital sharing will only disrupt the free advertising it provides, and hence reduce legitimate sales.

* * *

The other side of the coin:

When any commodity of the Information Age, book, song, video, can be manufactured at the push of a button (if even that), and provided to a planet-wide consumer base, asking any price that exceeds a fraction of one dollar (to pick a currency) honestly, is just ripping you off.

 

[frogleg]

When I was young I bought record albums, then audio tapes, then CDs of all my same favorite recordings. I do not feel too bad about downloading a digital copy now because my money times three went into building the music machine of today. The companys have always ripped off the musicians from day one of music distribution. Greedy companys have drained musicians of their lives and talents for profits. I have no remorse for any music company who has failed to keep up with the times. They had a lot of loot to shell out for futures research. Those companies can die off, I don't care.
Some savvy production companys are trying new techniques. For instance; I just downloaded a (free) mini-series of the upcoming Battlestar Gallactica: Blood & Steel production. The series will not air until Feb.2013, and the same month it will release the DVD for the series. They are using the structure of downloading from the internet to their advantage. By giving a prequel, they invite people to either buy or watch the show when it airs in February. And they give enough time for word of mouth (best advertiser of all) to spread the word of a (hopefully) good product. I know this is a video product, but this type of thinking could work for music as well. Radio did not kill the record industry by making music free to listen or record over the airwaves - it enhanced popularity and sales. Freedom on the internet will not kill the music industry either. My two cents in the matter.

 

[Summer-Time-Fun]

frogleg,
you took the words right out of my mouth. I was going to make a post last night but decided not to. But you got me fired up today in a good way.
The money I've spent, I could have bought two mansions. I've got twelve crates of CDs in my basement, not to mention all the LPs I've lost track of. That's one point.
I was buying these things at $15.00, $18.00 and sometimes $30+ for double CD sets when it only costs them .5 cents per CD. Who's the thieves.
And you're right, the musicians have gotten F...ked on most of their contracts.

I remember when Metallica and all the record company's were trying to punish everyone a few years back. It's funny because I didn't hear one musician complain on the news. The only reason Metallica was after everyone was because they are a record company. Most these musicians didn't start making money till their 3d CD.
Whenever I was lent a CD, or demo-ed something from the net, I always bought it if I liked it. This idea that you simply buy a CD and hope you'll like the songs is sort of like like buying a car, or set of headphones and never seeing or hearing them (in the case of the phones for example). I had posted a similar example here.
On a side note, as strange as it sounds. I really miss going into Tower Records and cracking open a new CD in my car to smell the fresh plastic.
I always liked having the physical CD as a backup and also digitally on a drive for easy access.

 

[major9686]

Question...
Is that only for music and videos ?
what about applications and games ?

and as for the music, only japanese music and movies ?! which were released (was licensed) by a japanese company such as sony ?

Also, does that regards only Torrents or Direct Downloads as well ?
And how can they tell ?!
I mean, HQ videos on Youtube, download MODS for games, CLOUD sharing and sync between devices can take quite a lot of bandwidth.

Do they target torrents via specific ports ?
people who get lots of traffic in their UL/DL bandwidth?!

 

[elgringo14]

I wrote this in the other news thread about that law:

As far as I remember, the law is focusing on DVD/Bluray/CD rips of live and anime series, movies and music. For some reason other media (JAV, IV, mangas, software) are not really concerned (differences of lobbying?) so they should not be as much affected as the "target" ones. TV streams shall not be concerned as well because they are "free" (at least for the free channels).

About the law targeting more the torrents or direct downloads, I'd say it is hard to monitor direct downloads which are basic http fluxes. Streaming, torrents and other p2p use specific protocols and can really be tracked.

 

[deny2001id]

Iam gundam fans.
we know very much gundam product from illegal video download. then we buy gunpla from bandai. well yeah if we were in same situation too (HARD to illegally download and will get punishment if we do that), then I'm sure, gunpla sales will be fall.
ya know, we like then we buy because we know / familiar with it. in my language there's wise words: tidak kenal maka tidak sayang

andalaugh:

 

[Ceewan]

I wrote this in the other news thread about that law:



About the law targeting more the torrents or direct downloads, I'd say it is hard to monitor direct downloads which are basic http fluxes. Streaming, torrents and other p2p use specific protocols and can really be tracked.

Kind of a mixed bag I would think. If you are part of a P2P download then it is doesn't take a genius to track the most of the players involved in that download, which is exactly the method being used in the "six strikes" type of laws in Europe. ISPs' that use throttling merely check bandwidth usage and have no idea exactly what you are downloading via P2P. But you cannot track what P2P users are downloading if you are not part of the swarm. Since bittorrent is a legal way to transfer information just knowing someone is using P2P means next to nothing.

With direct downloads it is another matter. As long as a company keeps logs you can be tracked. There are ways of hiding your real IP but most people don't even bother. Of course there is a lot of work involved in getting at those logs, if they are available, so more attention is put to tacking the sites that store these files rather than the users that up/download them.

That is my take on it anyway.