Lit Review
Hypotheses
Before the survey was designed, secondary research was conducted about the topic of Music Piracy and Spotify, which was found online (as referenced). The research served as a base to create objectives and the initial questions in the survey.
Study from 2000 (Marron and Steel) showed that there was a strong correlation between the two – the less income, the higher the piracy numbers.
From the book “Pirates of the Digital Millennium” (Gantz and Rochester): 91% of MP3 downloaders were aged 18-24 (survey taken in 2005). This information was the reason that the survey created was directed toward only students.
NPD (2012 Music Survey) 40% of people in the US who used to download files illegally had stopped due to the use of free music streaming services (e.g. Spotify)
Kampmann (2012)’s thesis on Music Piracy found that things such as high prices, low income and government restrictions increase piracy. Anderson & Frenz (2007) study looked at the relationship between not wanting to purchase the whole album and actual purchases. They found no correlation between this. They also found that there was no relationship between a person’s income and the purchase of CDs.
Coyle et al (2009) found that females are less likely to download music illegally.
Liebowitz (2008) found that the use of file sharing has made record sales decline.
According to BPI (British Phonographic Industry)’s research (2014/15) the use of music streaming devices has increased album sales in the UK.
The Alternative Hypothesis (One tailed): There is a significant difference between the reasons mentioned and the numbers of people who have a Spotify Premium account. The numbers of people are significantly influenced by one of the reasons of listen offline, and advert free instead of “unlimited skips, able to play any track and higher quality”
Another area that was investigated was the reason to which why people decided to move towards engaging in online piracy to obtain their music, which is shown below (in figure 8.)
Advert free
Spotify against other methods of listening to music
1 -Not very significant
2-Not significant
4-Significant
5-Very significant
Spotify is an online music streaming service that a number of people have began to use since its launch in 2008 (Kreitz, G., & Niemelä, F. 2010).
3-Slighty significant
Influenced by friends and family
16
Quick Easy
Burrell (2014) states that Spotify sales have increase by 34% from 2012-14.
How many hours per week do you spend listening to music?
14
12
Fig. 14: The trends in which students started using Spotify
Limited budget Affordability
Song/Album not available in country
10
6
I don't like whole albums
123.0 00
87.000
64.500
80.000
> hr p/w
2.2%
3.4%
.913b
.153b
.021b
.091b
1-2 hrs p/w
7.9%
8.5%
Exact Sig[2*(1-tailed Sig.)]
12.4%
11.9%
16.9%
18.6%
60.7%
57.6%
100.0%
100.0%
0
20
40 60 Frequency
80
0
100
3-4 hrs p/w 5-6 hrs p/w
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
Year
Fig.1
This graph shows that affordability, limited budget and unwillingness to pay were three of the most significant reasons as to why they had chosen to download music illegally.
Employment Status of Sample
Figure 1 (sourced from the British Phonographic Industry) shows the different ways in which people listened to music over 2014 to 2015. A highlight from this table is the 79.5% increase in albums streamed.
Yes, I have a full time job 2%
As of March 2015 the use of online music streaming services was so high that it was included in the official chart count (Entertainment Retail Association)
Since its launch it can be see that the biggest increase in usage from students was between 20112013. This suggests that Spotify has become increasingly popular within these 2 years. This is apparent by the fact that Spotify and other streaming services sales have increased from 77m to 103m in the years 2012-2014 (Burrell,2014).
Yes, I have a part time job 47%
No, I don't have a job 51%
Yes
Music Piracy (downloading music from the internet without paying, when it is not offered for free by the artist) seems to be an increasing problem as the use of technology increased, so research was conducted to see if the problem was as rife as anticipated. It was also noted that ‘Spotify’ (a music streaming service) was very popular and this meant, possibly, that ‘Spotify’ could be phasing out music piracy. This was put to the test and a survey was produced which was aimed at students to see whether this was the case. This poster is showing the analysed results.
Methods of Listening to Music
To compare Spotify against other methods of using music.
Why do people use Spotify?
Frequency
No
YouTube 28%
These objectives cover a good area of the research topic which meant there was scope to find out a lot about music piracy and Spotify. For this survey the focus group were students so there was a concise sample group. The literature shows that it appears that music piracy is most common among students as, typically, they have a limited budget.
Spotify 39%
Employment Employed
Sample Size
1 Have you ever downloaded music without paying?
Yes
6
No
2
0
0
2
5 16
Total 36
2
6
Radio Youtube
Fig.22
To start with YouTube was identified as the most popular method as a way of listening to music however after further analysis it has been identified that students primary method of listening to their music is Spotify. The pie chart indicates Spotify being 11% more popular than YouTube.
Spotify Itunes
20
40 Frequency
60
80
100
Since YouTube was established 10 years, its growth as a website and a way to access music has phenomenally grown (Cayari, C. 2011).
Average age: 20 years old. 84 Domestic students, 14 International students (figure 2).
A range of university students from years 1 to 4, although predominantly 2nd and 3rd years (51 and 30 respectively).
The size of this sample meant that was plenty of data to analyse. This meant tests could be completed to give an appropriate response to the objectives and ultimately answer the question, as to whether Spotify was the most frequent way in which people listen to music. Furthermore, if it had reduced the amount of people who had obtained music through illegal means.
Total Unemployed Employed Have you ever downloaded music without paying? Total
Yes
8 7
3 3
6 6
7 10
18 19
42 45
No
0
1
0
0
1
2
7
4
6
Employed
Fig.11
Fig.3 Graphic to represent response level of domestic to international students.
Do people download music illegally and why?
Figure 4 shows the results broken down into respondents who had claimed to downloaded music without paying. It wasn't mentioned in the question the fact that doing this was indeed illegal, as the next question gathered if people knew that what they were doing was illegal. This was done in order to establish whether the stigma of downloading music illegally was enough to deter people from actually doing it. Have you ever downloaded music without paying?
Yes No
17
Total
98
Fig.4: Table to show how many people had obtained music without paying.
Fig.4
Employed
Have you ever downloaded music without paying?
Yes
Total
74
Strongly Agree
Agree
No Opinion
Disagree
1 2 4 7 23
1 3 6 3 14
0 2 1 3 6
0 1 1 0 1
0 0 0 0 1
0 0 0 0 1
2 9 14 15 57
16
37
27
12
3
1
1
97
17
98
No significant difference was found between a person’s employment status and whether they download music through online piracy websites (chi-squared (1) = 2.868, p = (0.90) > 0.05. The null hypothesis of no significant difference can therefore be accepted. Which means that there is no direct link between one’s employment status and their likelihood to adopt the use of online piracy services.
df
Asymp. Sig. (2-sided)
Exact Sig. (2sided
Exact Sig. (1sided)
Pearson Chi-Square Continuity Correctionb Likelihood Ratio Fisher’s Exact Test Linear-by-Linear Association N of Valid Cases
Strongly Disagree
a
3.843 2.868 3.931
1 1 1
.050 .090 .047 .064
3.804 98
1
Freqency
10
How many hours per week do you spend listening to music?
Have Used
Skreemr
Piratebay
"Downloading music without paying doesn't affect the artists producing it" Strongly No Strongly Agree Agree opinion Disagree Disagree Total
Total Fig.7
Yes
10 12
10 12
1 13 14
6 33 39
6 14 20
17 81 98
Mediafire Rapidshare Beemp3
Filestube
Yes YouTube
Yes No
This links back to the previous objective, as to discover whether or not people still download music illegally. If people view Spotify as a substitute to piracy, then it could be viewed in confidence that a rise in the use of Spotify would lead to a decrease in music piracy.
Most popular ways in which people access Spotify Total
No 71 19 1 4 72 23
Have you ever downloaded music from YouTube using YouTube converter software? Yes No 2 0 5 4 9 5 13 2 42 15
> an hrs p/w 1-2 hrs p/w 3-4 hrs p/w 5-6 hrs p/w < 6 hrs p/w
71
26
A high response level (98 responses) and high competent responses
Key research objectives achieved
Tests were carried out to support relevant data.
New skills were gained through SPSS and Bristol Online Surveys
Reflection/What we would do differently
Ask whether people use Spotify instead of illegally downloading music or use Spotify instead of buying music to gain a wider viewpoint.
A biased sample was obtained which influenced the results and it meant it did not comply with the findings of the literature. This could have been amended by using stratified sampling.
Some of the questions in the survey were misconstrued as it could be seen from certain results not being consistent.
Include more questions to obtain a greater outcome of results. For example questions reflecting students previous usage with current usage to see if streaming services have decreased online piracy.
Tablet/iPad 17%
Not being able to conduct tests for each objective as the results obtained did not meet the criteria for the test.
Student budget could have been analysed to further identify if income was the key issue in comparison to other areas such as it being quick and easy to access.
2 9 14 15 57 97
Fig.25
References
Spotify can be accessed through several devices. From the survey it was found the most popular way in which students preferred to use their Spotify account was through a laptop and mobile phones. This was what was expected as students regularly use these two devices in particular during their travels and time at university.
Fig.19
Anderson, B & Frenz, M. The Impact of Music Downloads and P2P File-Sharing on the Purchase of Music: A Study for Industry Canada. University of London.
British Phonographic Industry. (2015). STREAMING DRIVES BOOST IN UK MUSIC CONSUMPTION IN FIRST HALF OF 2015. Available: https://www.bpi.co.uk/home/streaming-drives-boost-in-uk-music-consumption-in-first-half-of2015.aspx. Last accessed 11th Dec 2015.
Burrell, I. (2014). Spotify and Deezer streaming services surge in popularity as music. [online] The Independent. Available at: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/spotify-and-deezer-streaming-servicessurge-in-popularity-as-music-downloading-stalls-9031839.html [Accessed 12 Dec. 2015].
Bustinza, O. F., Vendrell-Herrero, F., Parry, G., & Myrthianos, V. (2013). Music business models and piracy. Industrial Management & Data Systems, 113(1), 4-22.
Cayari, C. (2011). The YouTube Effect: How YouTube Has Provided New Ways to Consume, Create, and Share Music. International Journal of Education & the Arts. P2.
Entertainment Retail Association. (2015). UK’s Official Albums Chart to include streaming data for first time. Available: http://www.eraltd.org/news/industry-news/uk’s-official-albums-chart-to-include-streaming-data-for-firsttime.aspx. Last accessed 11th Dec 2015.
Gantz, J. & Rochester, J. (2005). Pirates of the Digital Millenium. USA: Prentice Hall Financial Times. p157.
Gantz, J. & Rochester, J. (2005). Pirates of the Digital Millenium. USA: Prentice Hall Financial Times. P187.
GO-Gulf. (2011). Online Piracy in Numbers. Available: http://www.go-gulf.com/blog/online-piracy/. Last accessed 22nd Oct 2015.
IFPI. (2015). IFPI Digital Music Report 2015. Available:http://www.ifpi.org/downloads/Digital-Music-Report-2015.pdf. Last accessed 22nd Oct 2015.
Jackson, M. (2013). UK Digital Music Sales Soar Despite Threat from ISP Internet Piracy. Available: http:// www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2013/01/uk-digital-music-sales-soar-despite-threat-from-isp-internet-piracy.html. Last accessed 30th Nov 2015.
Kampmann, M. (2010). Online Piracy and Consumer Affect To pay or not to pay. Master Thesis Psychology: Consumer Behavior.
Kreitz, G., & Niemelä, F. (2010). Spotify--large scale, low latency, P2P music-on-demand streaming. In Peer-to-Peer Computing (P2P), 2010 IEEE Tenth International Conference on (pp. 1-10).
Leibowitz, S. (2005). Economists Examine File-Sharing and Music Sales. The Industrial Organization of Digital Goods and Electronic Markets
NPD. (2012). The NPD Group: Music File Sharing Declined Significantly in 2012. Available: https://www.npd.com/ wps/portal/npd/us/news/press-releases/the-npd-group-music-file-sharing-declined-significantly-in-2012/. Last accessed 10th Dec 2015.
Zhang, B., Kreitz, G., Isaksson, M., Ubillos, J., Urdaneta, G., Pouwelse, J., & Epema, D. (2013, April). Understanding user behavior in spotify. In INFOCOM, 2013 Proceedings IEEE (pp. 220-224). IEEE
Ranking reasons to purchase Spotify Premium (1 being highest)
1
This is reflected upon in our findings, shown in the table below.
2
3
4
5
Higher quality audio
0
10
20 Frequency
30
40
This graph is evidence that Piratebay is the most commonly used and well-known online piracy service used by students. Only 35 students claimed to have been familiar with Piratebay, which is under half of the sample—this suggests that students are not as knowledgeable about online piracy services as prior assumptions:
Mobile Phone 36%
Boorstin (2004) states that a major reason as to why MP3 converters are increasingly popular is due to the ease in which they can be found.
Isohunt
Positives derived from the research project
Spotify Web Player 11%
90 5 95
Fig 19: People who listen to music for <6hrs p/w are more likely to use YouTube Convertors
Total
Newzbin
Reflection
Laptop 36%
Warez-bb
The results and tests conducted from the survey revealed that the key reason for people to illegally download music is because it is quick and easy to get away with.
20
Rslog
Fig.13
15
Figure 24 suggests that Spotify indeed has had an adverse effect on online piracy as more people tend to agree than disagree with the statement supported by the findings of NPD (2012 Music Survey).
Mp3fiesta
Students appreciated the fact that downloading music without paying does indeed affect the artists producing the music, although most people still decide to download illegally.
10 Frequency
Spotify is the most popular music streaming service, launched in 2008. A number of people have stated that Spotify has stopped them from accessing music through online piracy websites. Figure 24 shows the extent to which people agree with the statement: “I view Spotify as a substitute to online piracy”.
Have you ever downloaded music from YouTube using YouTube converter software?
Total
Legalsounds
Piracy Websites
Figure 6 illustrates that the statement, “It is easy to download music without paying.” was the most agreed upon by the survey sample.
5
The findings from figure 17 and 18 show a significant proportion of the sample that use YouTube also use converter sites.
.044
FetchMP3
Fig.13: A list of the most common online piracy websites sourced by digital music (2010) that were used by the sample.
It was found that income and affordability of music was not the main reason for our sample downloading music without paying, which supports the research conducted by Anderson & Frenz (2007). This was not the same as the findings by Kampmann (2012) who found that affordability and income were prominent factors in piracy rates.
Fig.18
5 0
No opinion
.051
Familiar With
Figure 7 also supports this as 47 people who have downloaded music illegally have chosen either disagree or strongly disagreed in respect to the statement “downloading music without paying doesn't affect the artists producing it”.
Boorstin (2004) states that the increasing usage of converters sites began after the launch of the MP3 and that the internet did not play a major role in the distribution of music until this time.
Total
15
2
The most frequent responses was saves mobile data allowance.
Overall, each objective was met however the survey questions could have been altered slightly or added to, to be able to demonstrate statistical tests on each objective, which was not possible in some cases. The literature that we collected does not 100% support our findings, for example (Marron & Steel, 2000) stated that there was a correlation between income and piracy rates, however it was found in the survey conducted for this project that this was not the case.
0
Fig.18: 71 out of 90 students who used YouTube admitted to also using YouTube convertors.
20
2
Strongly Agree
Report of the test
25
No
The results obtained were coded into two main categories to make it easier to analyse.
Fig.24
Which online piracy services are commonly used?
Illegally downloaded music
The data found from the survey showed that the main reasons why people use Spotify were because they were able to listen to songs on ‘offline mode’ so they don’t use up their data allowance on their phone (shown in the Wordle graphic). This also relates back to the affordability aspect, as they would have to pay for more 3g if they didn’t use offline mode or pay for a premium service (which offers the offline mode).
Disagree
Fig.17: 73% out of 98 people converted music from YouTube
Fig.12
Fig.7: A table to show peoples opinion on the above statement
The size of the word corresponds to the frequency of the response.
Agree
Fig.17
30
Strongly Disagree
Fig.24: 32 out of 68 Students agree with this statement.
No 27%
35
“I view Spotify as a substitute to online piracy”
Have you ever downloaded music from YouTube using a YouTube Converter?
40
The sample were asked to describe why they chose to use the offline mode in Spotify premium on their mobile phones.
The findings indicate that only 1% of the sample said that purchasing CDs was their primary music consumption method, compared to 39% who use Spotify as their main. YouTube also came out on top as one of the most popular ways to consume music. This goes against the data in the table shown in the literature review (The British Phonographic Industry), which shows that consuming music via physical albums is more popular that streaming.
Fig.23
There is a significant difference between a person’s employment status and whether they download music through online piracy websites.
Fig.5
Fig.6
Fig 23: 61% use Spotify however only 24% pay to use this service.
This relates back to figure 15 which shows Spotify and YouTube being the two most highly used methods of listening to music.
Alternative Hypothesis
81
I will never get Downloading Search engines in trouble for music without easily guide me downloading paying doesn't to online piracy music illegally, affect the services so why not? artists producing it
No, I don't have a Spotify account 37%
It can be identified that Spotify and YouTube are the top two most popular options for students who spend the majority of their time listening to music.
Yes 73%
Value
Yes, I have a premium account 24%
Yes, I have a free account 39%
50
There is no significant difference between a person’s employment status and whether they download music through online piracy websites.
45
Motivations
TV channels Total
0 1 2 2 11
50
Downloading It is easy to All my friends music without download do it, why paying is music without shouldn't I? unethical paying
Radio
CDs
Fig.16
48
5
81
YouTube
Apple Music
Total
81
7
Statements for downloading music illegally
Total
Total
As 36 employed students and 45 unemployed students download music through online piracy services, it could be suggested that there may be no significant difference between a person’s employment status and whether they download music through online piracy websites.
Total 7
74
45
> an hrs p/w 1-2 hrs p/w 3-4 hrs p/w 5-6 hrs p/w < 6 hrs p/w
Spotify
Chi-Square Tests
Are you aware that this is illegal? Yes No
Fig.5: This shows the amount of people who have obtained music without paying in the knowledge that it was illegal.
47
Null Hypothesis
From the results that were obtained, a clear picture was constructed of the amount of students who have downloaded music illegally. In a study by UK Music (2009) it was stated that over 50% of 14-24 year olds illegally download music. The sample obtained from the survey illustrated that 82% of respondents with the average age of 20 downloaded music illegally.
Frequency 81
20
Have you ever downloaded music without paying? (Without the permission of the artist or record label) Yes No 36 12
Unemployed
Fig.2: Graphic to represent response level of females to males.
20
How many hours per week do you spend listening to music?
Figure 10 identified a similarity between people who are employed and unemployed—they both download music illegally and both agree that “affordability” is the strongest reason for downloading illegally. This was not expected as the literature suggested that there is a strong correlation between income and how often music is pirated.
Fig.11: Shows the employment status vs tendency to download illegally.
14
10
iTunes
Fig.10
70
84
27
Conclusion/Summary of Findings
28
Total
Do you have a Spotify account?
Opinions
21
Why do people use Spotify?
As expected YouTube and Spotify are the most commonly used methods in which students chose to listen to music (when Online Piracy is removed from the equation).
Online Piracy is estimated to cost the US $12 Billion a year, 72.4% of the sample believed this figure was only $12 Million. Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are able to send up to four letters to customers who they think are downloading files illegally, just over half (53.1%) knew this was the case.
86.7% of the sample knew that illegal downloading had increased over the last five years.
Over 70,000 jobs are lost in the US due to online piracy, 57.1% of the sample appreciated this.
Fig.20: 93% out of 72 students agreed that YouTube convertors were easy to access
"I find this software easy to access and use". To what extent do you agree with this statement? Total
Strongly Agree Agree No opinion Disagree
Have you ever downloaded music from YouTube using YouTube converter software? Yes 38 29 2 3
Fig.26: Advert free and listening offline have were ranked the highest
Total 38 29 2 3
72 72
Reasons for listening offline
28 Males, 70 Females (figure 1).
6
Fig.28
A sample of 98 people was achieved by the time the survey was closed, there was a response of:
Easy and more convenient Saves data allowance
Fig.15
Affordability 2 3 4 3 6 5
Fig.15: From this we can see that YouTube is the most popular method.
Apple Music
0
Figure 9 shows the employment demographic of the sample that completed the survey, the majority claimed to not have a job. Furthermore the employment data was merged in order to carry out a series of descriptives .
The difference was significant between the reason of listen offline and the numbers of students who have a Spotify Premium account U = 64.500, P < 0.05. Therefore the null hypothesis can be rejected and we can assume that there is a significant difference between the reason of listen offline and the numbers of students. The numbers of students are influenced more by listen offline than other reasons in terms of Advert free, unlimited skips, able to play any track, and higher quality audio.
Overall then main reason as to why students use Spotify Premium as it enables them listen to music offline.
iTunes 16%
Purchasing music
Fig.9
.885b Fig.27
Whereas, there was no significant difference between the reasons mentioned, apart from listen offline, and the numbers of students who have Spotify Premium account U=123.000 for Advert free, 87.000 for unlimited skips, 80.000 for able to play any track and U= 122.500 for Higher quality audio respectively, their Ps > 0.05. Thus the null hypothesis can be accepted. The numbers of students were not influenced by the reasons of advert free, unlimited skips, able to play any track and higher quality audio.
TV channels (e.g MTV, Kerrang) 1%
Fig. 22 : This indicates Spotify is the primary method
Tv channels
The three main objectives that the survey results collected were: Do people download music illegally and why?
Purchasing CDs 1%
Radio 12%
Channels through which people listen to music
Introduction
Apple Music 3%
122.500
A null hypothesis of no significant difference and alternative hypotheses in terms of two tailed, and one tailed of significant difference were established, and a 95% confidence level was assumed.
Primary method people listen to music
Fig.14
Higher quality audio
Reporting the Output
Overall those who listen to music for over 6 hours per week prefer to you YouTube and Spotify which was expected as the following pie chart shows that these were the two most popular methods as well as being students primary method.
2
Unwillingness to pay
Fig.8
Able to play any track
Mann-Whitney U
Fig.21
4
Listen Offline
Spotify
< 6 hrs p/w Total
8
Unlimited skips
YouTube
Ranking of reasons as to why people decided to use Online Piracy
Reasons
The Null Hypothesis: There is no significant difference between reasons of “advert free, unlimited skips, listen offline, able to play any track and higher quality audio”, and the numbers of students who have a Spotify Premium account. The numbers of students are not influenced by the reasons mentioned.
Count
1301303, 1403390, 1502378, 1404809, 140759
Able to play any track
Listen Offline
Unimited skips
Advert free 0
10
20 Frequency
30
40
Fig.26
Fig.20
Figure 26 is to illustrate the ranking reasons to purchase Spotify Premium. It shows that students who are subscribed to Spotify Premium ranked Advert free as the highest followed by listen offline. This put forward an investigation to find out the main reasons for students to use Spotify Premium account to download music illegally. A Mann Whitney test was conducted with the aim to find out the main reasons why people use Spotify.