A recent survey from US-based Edison Media Research, designed to
show the impact that Napster and other on-line music distributors
have had on the record industry, states that 5.5% of Americans have
downloaded music on-line instead of buying it in CD or cassette
format.
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has blamed
on-line music distributors for a 40% fall in singles’ sales in the
past year. However, others point out that the current state of
economy would take its toll on sales.
The Edison survey was carried out among 748 Americans between
the ages of 16 and 40. The authors admit that there is still little
quantification of the impact of Napster and services like Gnutella,
Aimster, Audiogalaxy, iMesh, LimeWire, Music City and
BearShare.
