Average young person’s MP3 player is 50% illegal

14% of the average CD collection had been ripped or burnt
14% of the average CD collection had been ripped or burnt

According to the largest academic survey of young people's music habits ever conducted, MP3 players belonging to teenagers and students contain an average of 1770 tracks - half of which have not been paid for.

The results also showed that 63% of the 14-24 year old respondents use peer-to-peer file-sharing networks to download music while 42% upload their own.

It's not all doom and gloom for music sales, though - 80% of illegal downloaders would be willing to pay for an unlimited legal service and 60% would still buy CDs. In fact, only 3% do not own any CDs… although 14% of the average CD collection had been ripped or burnt, ahem.

Other points of interest show 60% of music budget is spent on live rather than recorded music (mostly gigs and merchandise), young people believe songwriters, musicians and performers should be the beneficiaries of a proposed music license and more than a third of people who play a musical instrument have uploaded their own recordings to a social network. It's quite surprising to see that a small number who do not play any musical instruments still manage to upload their own recorded music - vocal harmony groups perhaps?

The Music Experience And Behaviour In Young People survey was conducted by British Music Rights (BMR). You can download the full 41-page report here.

Tom Porter worked on MusicRadar from its mid-2007 launch date to 2011, covering a range of music and music making topics, across features, gear news, reviews, interviews and more. A regular NAMM-goer back in the day, Tom now resides permanently in Los Angeles, where he's doing rather well at the Internet Movie Database (IMDB).