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U.K. Study: Youth Prefer Piracy

Ahoy, mateys: It looks like music piracy remains the most popular kind of digital acquisition among the youth of Europe. According to a study done by U.K. company Jupiter Research, illegal file-sharing networks get three times more use than their legal counterparts. BBC News reports that even though the music industry has been cracking down on illegal file sharing — the Kazaa/Grokster shutdown in the U.S. is one example — only five percent of all Internet consumers pay to download music legally. The Jupiter report showed that of all Europeans, Swedes are most likely to pay for their tunes with 31% saying they’d be glad to pony up some Krona. An analyst for Jupiter told the BBC, “Unless the music industry can transition these consumers whilst they are young away from free consumption to paid music formats, be they digital or CDs, they may never develop music purchasing behavior and the recording industry could suffer long-term harm.” The industry best take the Jupiter report seriously, especially since the man is using the word “whilst.”

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