Is Music Piracy Normal? Behavioral Effects of Social and Technological Barriers

Music piracy, once a novel issue covered in technology magazines, has become an issue of considerable importance and is discussed regularly in mainstream media. Despite the strategies and alternatives aimed at reducing piracy behaviour, the phenomenon remains a major issue for the industry. This paper continues from previous work by testing a further section of the previously proposed model using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). The Economic and Complexity factors were found to be relevant, but, surprisingly, age was unexpectedly found not to be significant. Users from lower income brackets were more likely to engage in music piracy, and the relative complexity of the legal process of music downloading was found to be a barrier to legally downloading music, thus operating to turn users toward music piracy. Our work and other studies suggest that some degree of music piracy is actually beneficial to the industry, and further research should confirm this notion and determine whether an optimum level exists.