Pirates of the web: The curse of illegal downloading

Music piracy is the major factor leading to the downturn in paid-for music consumption. This study aims to distinguish between the determinants of a music pirate and a genuine consumer of music (age, gender, income, music preference, music experience). It also investigates attendance at live performances, which previous research suggests, will tend to inhibit the decline of paid-for recorded music. This research is innovative in that it investigates a range of antecedents of music piracy. The method utilises a structured questionnaire survey (n=214) and regression analysis to elicit which factors play the most important role affecting our respondents' choices in buying music, illegal downloading music and attending live concerts. Managerial and theoretical implications are presented.