Fewer Than 1 in 10 Teenagers Believe that Music Piracy is Morally Wrong

Attitudes Drive Behavior

Overall, 4 out of every 5 teenagers (80%) have engaged in some type of music piracy in the past six months – including making copies of CDs for other people, downloading free music (other than promotions or giveaways), or uploading their own music files to the Internet to share with others. Based on an examination of more than 70 behavioral and attitudinal variables, the factor most strongly correlated to participation in music piracy is what type of moral perspective the teen maintains on the subject. Most other factors had no apparent connection to engagement in piracy. For instance, active church attenders (78%) were just as likely as non-attenders (81%) to engage in piracy; born again Christians (77%) were just as likely as non-born again Christians (81%). The vast majority of teenagers – typically about 8 out of every 10 teens – had engaged in some form of music piracy during the past six months, regardless of gender, age, region, academic performance, and the marital status of the teen’s parents.

In fact, the study pointed out that even 79% of the teens that claimed their parents understand the issues of music piracy very well had recently committed some form of music piracy. Consequently, the survey indicates that parental awareness of piracy activity and concerns may not stunt such behavior among their offspring.

Unexpectedly, teen buyers of Christian music were just as likely as other teens to engage in music piracy. This included teens who had purchased contemporary Christian music (77% of these buyers had committed an act of piracy), gospel recordings (80%), and worship music (80%).

The strongest correlate of decreased piracy behavior was a teen’s moral view. Among teens who believe piracy is wrong, just 58% had engaged in any form of piracy within the last six months, compared to 63% of those who are undecided, 80% among pragmatists, and 85% of those who claim that piracy is morally OK.

As further evidence of the role attitudes play in the piracy equation, the only group that generated a piracy participation rate of less than 50% was moralists who felt “very certain” of their views. Among these scrupulous teens, “only” 45% had engaged in piracy. Although even the moralists’ piracy activities leave much to be desired, it still represents nearly 50% less participation in illegal forms of music consumption when compared to those who hold a more lax moral view of piracy.

Music Acquisition Sources

Despite some predictions that consumers will no longer buy music in traditional retail outlets as a result of piracy, music stores still reign as the most common music source for teenagers (84% of teenagers said they had purchased a CD or cassette from a music store in the past six months).

Still, illegal forms of acquiring music have become routine activities for most teenagers. Sixty-four percent of teens had made a copy of music for a friend; 58% had made a copy for a family member; 59% had downloaded a free, non-promotional song from the Internet; and 25% had uploaded songs onto the Internet to share with others. As yet, teens have not turned en masse to pay-per-download online services: just 12% of teens said they had paid to download a song in the last six months.

Piracy Input

One reason teens may embrace music piracy is that they receive little favorable, constructive advice on the issue. When the teenagers surveyed were asked if they had ever heard anyone talk about when it is legal to copy music onto CDs and when it is not legal, barely half (54%) indicated they had been exposed to such input. Even fewer teens (only 48%) have ever heard anyone discuss the morality of music downloading.

Furthermore, when teens get information about the moral choices related to music piracy, it rarely comes from older mentors or their parents. Peers are the most common source of teenagers’ information about CD copying (32%) as well as about music downloading (28%).

Other sources of information related to CD copying included teachers (13%), parents (11%), newscasters (9%), other people on TV (4%), siblings (2%), TV commercials (1%), radio DJs (1%), MTV (1%), newspapers (1%), and the police (1%). The music industry’s efforts to educate the public are impacting few teens when it comes to CD copying: just 5% had heard a musician or artist talk about the issue. None of the teens specifically mentioned music companies or the recording industry as a source of information on the boundaries of CD burning. Less than one-half of 1% indicated that their youth pastor or another church leader had discussed the issue.

The sources of information for the morality of downloading were very similar to those of CD burning: peers (28%), teachers (13%), parents (11%), newscasters (9%), other people on TV (4%), TV commercials (3%), newspapers (2%), siblings (1%), and radio DJs (1%). The music industry was more frequently mentioned when it came to this arena, but not by much: 8% indicated they had seen a musician or artist address downloading while 2% of teens specifically mentioned the music industry. Only 3% of teens listed their pastor and 2% identified their youth pastor as a source of moral perspective about music downloading.