Pirates find music worth less than others do, study finds

With millions of people sharing music and other digital content each day through torrent sites or usenet, it has been asserted that we are collectively losing the sense of value of content. There is a fear that a whole generation thinks it’s normal not to pay for quality content.

Researchers from Duke University of Durham, North Carolina, shed light on this phenomenon and come with interesting results. In a study, carried out in cooperation with the Department of Justice, they find that indeed, people who engage in file sharing, are willing to pay less for music than others do.

The experiment consisted of a survey that was held amongst several hundreds of undergraduate students. The students were asked whether they would buy the song “Right Round” of rapper Flo Rida, which was the most popular song in Apple’s iTunes Store at the time the survey was held, for a predetermined, random price. The resulting average willingness to pay (WTP) for a song was $0,68, in a range of $0,11 through $1,37.

The researchers furthermore found a correlation between the willingness to pay and a history of file-sharing. For every cent that the WTP rose in the sample, the chances that the last new music that the respondents obtained was through file-sharing were reduced with 0,3%. Thus, people who engage in file-sharing, consistently value music less than people who don’t.  

Thus, the fear that file-sharing is educating a whole generation that quality content is worth very little seems valid.