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ONLINE MUSIC TO FLOURISH, REGARDLESS OF COPYRIGHT LEGAL BATTLES
Added: (Mon Nov 27 2000)
October 2, 2000
ONLINE MUSIC TO FLOURISH, REGARDLESS OF COPYRIGHT LEGAL BATTLES
-- Internet Tracking Study Shows Consumers Anticipate Purchasing Not
Pirating to be the Norm --
Music may want to be free, but Internet users in New York, Los Angeles and the UK expect otherwise. According to a study today released by Magex, the global digital commerce service, almost eight in ten respondents (78%) believe that free music downloads will be regulated at some time in the future. On average, consumers expect to pay $0.83 per sample, $3.05 per single title and $12.89 for a monthly subscription. Further, respondents expect this regulation to occur within 1.5 years.
The study which examines current consumer downloading behavior and attitudes towards purchasing digital content, signals that the downloading business has been acknowledged by consumers and has tremendous growth potential. More than two thirds of respondents who havenˇ¦t already downloaded digital content are interested in doing so within the next 12 months.
Fear of Fraud
In addition, the study answers questions about Internet users that are not yet downloading. 52% of respondents who have not downloaded music in the past 12 months agreed that they feel their purchasing has been limited because of fear of credit card fraud. When asked how valuable certain features are while purchasing music downloads from the Internet, the only feature identified, as extremely valuable to the majority of respondents was ˇ§payment security.ˇ¨
ˇ§The results of the Magex survey are quite revealing,ˇ¨ said Patrick Campbell, CEO of Magex. ˇ§It proves that the attention being paid to such issues as standardization in technology, pricing and content availability - all impediments to the adoption of downloads ˇV the leading concern from consumers is still payment security. Our number one goal is to build trust in d-commerce and safeguard users against payment fraud.ˇ¨
Even though payment security is a concern, respondents expressed more confidence in certain online institutions than others. While UK respondents were more likely than their peers to rely on a leading banking institution to store their personal payment information (45% in UK vs. 31% and 28% in NY and LA respectively), more than three-quarters of respondents (76%) would trust at least one institution on the Internet including:
„« Credit card company - 60%
„« A leading banking institution - 35%
„« An Internet security company - 25%
„« Internet service provider - 24%
„« Internet merchant directly - 10%
„« None of the above - 24%
About Magex:
Magex is a digital commerce service developed to create a secure and efficient environment for the trading of digital content on the Internet. The Magex technology addresses the security and payment problems surrounding digital distribution, enabling fast, safe and easy web transactions.
Incorporating Digital Rights Management from U.S. partner, InterTrust Technologies Corporation, Magex delivers the persistent protection of copyright products such as - music, information and games in any format alongside a simple, trusted payment process. Because businesses can now offer their best products for download with confidence their customers will appreciate the broader, richer choice on offer.
CSFB have estimated the market for the delivery of digital content, such as music or video, over the Internet at some US$27 billion of the total US$275 billion digital content market by 2003. Magex recently raised US$80 million in equity funding. Major shareholders are Goldman Sachs, Capital Z Financial Services, NatWest (now owned by Royal Bank of Scotland), Universal Music Group, InterTrust Technologies Corporation, and Reuters. For more information about Magex visit www.magex.com