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One in Three College Students Illegally Downloads Music, National Survey Finds

April 4, 2006

More than one-third (34 percent) of college students are illegally downloading music from free peer-to-peer file sharing networks, according to a just-released national survey. Thirty-nine percent say they pay for downloads, while two in five college students say they never get music online.

The national telephone survey of enrolled college students, commissioned by the University of Richmond-based Intellectual Property Institute (IPI), revealed that three-quarters of 18 to 24-year-old students recognize that free downloading is illegal, and 60 percent also think it’s unethical. Indeed, more than one in three of those college students who engage in illegal file-sharing think it’s wrong, but do it anyway to save money. Thirty-nine percent of students that download files say file-sharing should be legal.

“What we’re seeing here is an awareness of the legal and ethical implications of illegal downloading, which may result from the increased incidence of subpoenas, prosecutions and disciplinary actions in recent years,” said Jim Gibson, a professor at the University of Richmond School of Law and director of IPI. “Yet despite that awareness, many college students are continuing to engage in behavior that they themselves acknowledge as wrong.”

Two-thirds of those students who download music from the Internet say they do not care whether the music they download is copyrighted.

Among other findings from the survey:

  • The two most popular locations for downloading were college campuses (53percent) and students’ parents’ homes (19 percent)
  • Of those who never download music (free or paid), 53 percent equate it to “stealing” while 44 percent don’t see a problem with it
  • More than half of respondents (54 percent) said they weren’t sure whether illegal downloads were against their college or university’s policies
  • Almost three in four students (71 percent) said that illegal downloads “hurt record companies,” and more than half (56 percent) said they “hurt established musicians.”
  • 74 percent said downloads “help up-and-coming musicians,” ostensibly because the students believe the file-sharing helps to increase the musicians’ exposure
  • 14 percent of students use “work-arounds”—software employed to counter the anti-copying technologies used by programs like iTunes.

“College students today face the threat of lawsuits and other disciplinary action for illegal file-sharing,” said Gibson. “But, as these survey results bear out, this confrontational approach is not having its intended effect. Punitive measures may have their place, but college administrators also need to invite students to think critically about the intellectual, legal and economic effects that their conduct has on the quality and availability of creative content.  It’s clearly time for a more nuanced approach.”

In response to this need for honest, meaningful education about intellectual property issues on college campuses, IPI, in collaboration with The Media Institute, has developed the National CyberEducation Project (NCEP) to educate undergraduate students about contemporary intellectual property issues and encourage them to think about how they use copyrighted material. In conjunction with the survey, NCEP is distributing more than 4,000 DVDs of its “What Do You Think?” documentary to the faculty and staff of colleges and university across the nation. The documentary is an educational tool featuring on-the-street interviews with real college students, who discuss their views on file-sharing and the music industry, with reactions and commentary from experts on both sides of the issue. The documentary can be viewed online at: http://law.richmond.edu/ipi/whatdoyouthink.htm.

For the full survey results, see http://law.richmond.edu/ipi/pdf/SurveyResults.pdf.

Survey Methodology

The national telephone survey was conducted by IPSOS from March 4-29. The survey was conducted among a sample of 500 enrolled college students who are 18-24 years old. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 5percent.

About the Intellectual Property Institute and the National CyberEducation Project

The mission of the University of Richmond School of Law’s Intellectual Property Institute is to provide an active center for the study of contemporary intellectual property issues. As part of this mission, IPI has developed a comprehensive curriculum that enables law students at Richmond Law to obtain a certificate of concentration in Intellectual Property Law.

The National CyberEducation Project works to engage undergraduate students in legal and social policy issues arising in the context of intellectual property protection in the digital age. The IPI developed the National CyberEducation Project in collaboration with The Media Institute, a Washington-based nonprofit foundation that promotes freedom of expression.