Port Washington, N.Y. — More people are downloading music legally, but more are also downloading music illegally, an NPD Group survey of Internet-connected households found.
Ten percent of Internet-enabled households (6.9 million) downloaded at least one music file from a peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing service in April, up from 9 percent (6.2 million) in April 2005, NPD found. That month, 5 percent of Internet households paid for at least one music download, up from 4 percent in April 2005.
The percentage of American adults buying a CD in April fell slightly to less than 10 percent.
People interested in urban music were more likely to burn and download music, NPD found. Hip-hop and R&B music accounted for 19 percent of physical CD sales in April, but 38 percent of burned songs, 49 percent of illegal P2P sharing, and 30 percent of paid downloads.
