The statistic shows the most common reasons for downloading music from illegal sources worldwide in 2017. During the survey, 16 percent of respondents stated that they downloaded music from illegal sources because of the quality of the sound.

The majority of respondents stated that one of their reasons for illegally downloading movies and music from the internet was the easy and quick manner of finding the desired content. Of Hungarian young adults, 75 percent stated that they did not wish to pay for things they could also get for free.

According to a survey conducted between August 2012 and March 2022, the share of internet users in the United Kingdom (UK) who had consumed digital music illegally had dropped from 20 percent in 2019 to 15 percent in 2021 before increasing to a share of 25 percent in 2022. The second lowest figure at 18 percent of all respondents was reported in 2017 and 2020.

 A survey from 2015 reported that 17 percent of the French surveyed declared that they illegally downloaded movies on the internet at least once a year. As of 2017, almost a third of the respondents from another survey stated to regularly download music, movies or TV shows illegally.  

An illegal consumption of cultural goods mainly among young people

That same source reveals that the illicit consumption of cultural goods online (music, movies, TV shows) was more common among French people aged between 15 and 34 years old, whilst less than 10 percent of respondents aged 65 or older did so. However, among regular illicit consumer of cultural goods on the Internet, gender was not a determinant factor: 22 percent of both men and women declared that they regularly enjoyed cultural goods online illegally.

Most common methods of illegal cultural consumption online

How do Internet users access cultural goods unlawfully? Using access codes, subscriptions of other people was one habit used among French people: 17 percent declared doing so at least once a month in 2017, and 16 percent said they utilized the internet network belonging to someone else. Finally, the most popular illicit consumption feature in France was watching streaming online, before direct download or peer-to-peer download.

This statistic shows the volume of content illegally accessed in Spain from 2014 to 2019, by type. Music is the the type of content that was mostly illegally obtained during the period of time under consideration, with figures reaching over 1.5 billion songs which were not obtained by legal means in 2017 and has experienced and upward trend since. For example, over 2.3 billion songs were not obtain legally in 2019.

The statistic presents data on the preferred platform for pirated music worldwide in 2016 and 2017. According to the source, mobile devices (including phones and tablets) accounted for 87 percent of visits to illegal music streaming sites in 2017, an increase from 52 percent in 2016.

During a 2019 survey fielded in Mexico, 70 percent of respondents stated they believed Mexicans downloaded or listened to music from illegal websites; nearly 23 percent stated they thought Mexicans paid for online music services such as Spotify.

Annual music album sales in the United States dropped by roughly ***** percent between 2019 and 2021, amounting to just *** million in the most recent year. This number decreased further to just *** million in the U.S. in 2022. In 2013, sales amounted to ***** million units, a number which had already noticeably decreased from the *** million units sold in 2011. Annual music album sales - additional information The past decade has brought along many changes, both technological and societal, which have forever changed the face of the global music industry. Today, music superstars, such as Beyonce, who was the highest paid musician in the United States in 2016, have money, coverage in all possible mediums, and power like never before. However, as of 2015, the worldwide revenue generated by the music business stood at **** billion U.S. dollars, some **** billion less than in 2002. It seems that the internet, the magical tool that is responsible for the creation of so many music celebrities, might also be responsible for the dismal statistics surrounding the sale of music albums in the United States, once the main revenue stream in the business. As the data shows, annual music album sales in the United States have plummeted from *** million units sold in 2007 to under *** million units sold in 2017. At the same time, digital music revenues, especially from album and single downloads, as well as subscription and streaming services, have been steadily growing in the past years. The fall in record sales is attributed to the rise of illegal music downloading, but also to legal services, which provide music products without the additional costs of production and shipping. Despite changes in the way Americans acquire music, U.S. consumers still enjoy and value music industry products. Recent studies show that more consumers are choosing to use a legal alternative to file sharing, mainly digital music streaming services, such as online radio services like Pandora and Spotify. Additionally, musicians reorient themselves from album sales towards live performances and business deals to boost their incomes. As of 2017, the sales revenue from concert tickets in North America was at an all-time high, with revenue hit ***** billion U.S. dollars for the first time.

The statistic presents a forecast of the global digital music industry revenue in 2015 and 2020. The source projected the revenue will increase from 11.7 billion U.S. dollars in 2015 to 15.7 billion U.S. dollars in 2020. The digital music industry - additional information
The rise of the internet in the past two decades has dramatically changed the music industry on many levels, including how music is produced and distributed, how artists are discovered and promoted, as well as what exactly generates profit. One of the more positive aspects of music in the internet era is perhaps the existence of platforms such as YouTube or Sound Cloud, where unknown artist can be discovered and ultimately achieve commercial success, such as pop idol - Justin Bieber. He was only 12, when a producer found his profile by accident and brought him to international fame in only a few years. The major drawback of the digital world is the high rate of illegal music downloads, which have marred the industry on a global level, as well as the low costs of legal downloads, as compared to physical recording. As of 2014, the industry has witnessed a significant drop in sales of CDs, CSs, LPs and digital albums, from 500 million units in 2007 to 257 million units in 2014 in the United States alone. Many consider that the increase in popularity of legal digital downloads cannot make up for the loss, as digital music prices do not include manufacturing and transport costs, which further hurts musicians and labels. As of 2014, the U.S. music market has witnessed a growth of the digital share of music revenues from 2.9 percent to 71 percent. With some 37 million music tracks available as of June 2015, Apple’s iTunes Store is presently the largest music retailer in the world. At the time of its launch in 2003, it revolutionized the industry with its payable downloads, but the market is moving more and more to another type of digital consumption: streaming. Platforms such as Spotify, Pandora or Deezer offer limited free access to music, which is supported by ads, and subscription-based access to an almost unlimited number of popular tracks. As of June 2015, Spotify had 75 million monthly active users around the world, up from only 15 million two years prior. According to a recent forecast, digital music streaming is the fastest growing sector of the music industry, while physical recorded music is expected to experience a negative growth rate between 2013 and 2018.