UK study finds that people who illegally download music are biggest paying music consumers

Well, well, well, look what we have here. A new study shows that people who download music illegally are more likely to buy music than their non-pirating counterparts. Why’s that? It turns out that people who are into downloading music are actually into music, whereas people who don’t download music aren’t necessarily fans of music in general.

In hard numbers, people who download music spend an average of £77 (around $126) per year on music, versus the non-downloaders coming in an £44 ($72).

So yes, people who illegally download music are the music industry’s biggest consumer. Imagine that.

The survey, which took place in the UK (obviously) and was commissioned by think-tank Demos and carried out by Ipsos Mori, looked at 1,000 16-to-50-year olds.

Ten percent of respondents admitted to illegally downloading music.

All of this brings into question the UK Government’s plan to knock illegally downloaders off the Internet, done, of course, in order to protect the rights of musicians and, more cynically, prop up the ailing music business.