Synovate survey reveals 70% of Asians don't pay for digital music downloads
3 October 2005
HONG KONG — 70% of Asians who own an MP3 player and download music from the Internet in a typical week have never paid for such downloads according to a new study released today by leading global market research company, Synovate.
Synovate Director, Scott Lee, said the survey provided insight into the market penetration of MP3 players across Asia as well as brand ownership, digital music habits and the problem of music piracy.
"Across all Asian markets surveyed consumers who own MP3 players are ahead of the services that the music industry in Asia presently provides on the Internet. They are listening to music online, sending and receiving MP3 files through the Internet and downloading the equivalent of an album of songs a week.
"With a healthy digital music consumer market but a low penetration of Internet music sites and subscription services, it seems inevitable that Asia will become a fierce battle ground for companies seeking to grow their digital music business in the future," said Mr Lee.
The Synovate survey was conducted among more than 8,000 consumers from all socio-economic classes in China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Korea, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.
A growing market
Digital music penetration has grown rapidly across Asia and 34% of respondents in all markets surveyed now own some form of MP3 music file player, defined as a portable MP3 player, a mobile phone with MP3 music capabilities and laptops or PCs with MP3 music capabilities.
Portable MP3 players have also become popular due to their convenience and almost one in five people regionally now own a portable MP3 player or iPod. Hong Kong, where 37% of people now own an MP3 player, China (28%) and Korea (28%) presently lead the way in portable digital music.
Scott Lee said that the portable MP3 player was 'coming of age' and now appealed to consumers from all generations.
"MP3 players are no longer the sole domain of 'cool youth', with more than one in three owners of portable MP3 players regionally aged between 30 to 64 years old and over half of portable MP3 owners in Hong Kong and Singapore aged over 30," said Mr Lee.
Brand preferences
Respondents who own a portable MP3 player or iPod were asked to name which brand of device they own.
On a regional basis, the Samsung Yepp was the most popular brand, owned by 14% of portable MP3 player owners across the seven countries surveyed, followed by Sony (13%), iRiver (10%) and iPod (5%).
Portable MP3 player ownership by brand
Note: Sample sizes for MP3 owners in Indonesia and the Philippines were too small for accurate results.
Mr Lee said while Samsung Yepp led brand ownership on a regional basis, each country surveyed had very individual brand ownership preferences.
"Ownership of MP3 players differs greatly between countries and while Samsung Yepp was the most popular brand owned in China and across the region as a whole, Sony, iRiver, Creative and Apple all feature prominently," Mr Lee said.
Music piracy
Online music access has grown in line with increased Internet penetration and 51% of respondents who own an MP3 player now download songs from the Internet on a weekly basis.
Markets with the greatest propensity to regularly download music include China, where 64% of respondents who own any type of MP3 player download music in a typical week, followed by Korea (59%), Hong Kong (42%), the Philippines (36%) and Singapore (36%).
However, while an average of 12 songs per week are downloaded by MP3 owners across all markets, 70% of these downloading consumers had not paid for their songs.
Music piracy is a large problem in Singapore, where 82% of such respondents had not paid for any of their music downloads, as well as China (82%), Thailand (80%) and Hong Kong (75%).
Piracy is less prevalent in Korea, where just over half (52%) of all respondents who owned MP3 players and regularly downloaded songs had paid for music over the Internet.
Scott Lee said while file sharing and digital music piracy in Asia were an ongoing problem, there were some simple steps that companies could take to make downloading paid music more appealing to consumers.
"Consumers in Asia are very savvy when it comes to digital music and companies need to make it easier for them to buy music online and provide attractive incentives that will make people more inclined to pay for their music downloads."
Respondents who regularly download music were asked what factors would encourage them to pay for more downloads. The top answer regionally was easier searching (24%) followed by more music choice (13%) and lower prices (10%). Cost-conscious consumers in Singapore and Hong Kong feel the hip pocket is what counts, with lower prices the factor most likely to encourage their consumers to purchase more music online.
"Many of our respondents expect easier search facilities, greater payment convenience and additional extras like loyalty points or event the chance to meet the artists," Mr Lee said.
"So while the legal battles continue, consideration of online consumer needs and some simple marketing strategies may help companies begin to address this issue in a positive, constructive manner."
Digital music future
With 22% of all respondents surveyed indicating that they are likely or somewhat likely to buy an MP3 player in the next twelve months, penetration of MP3 players in Asia is likely to continue to increase with the Philippines (40%) and China (26%) set to be the biggest individual growth markets.
Mr Lee said that despite the rapid adoption of MP3 players and the burgeoning market for online digital music, it is unlikely that the compact disk (CD) or mini disk (MD) will disappear anytime soon.
"While it is clear that MP3 players and digital music have become a mainstream part of music life in Asia, the CD and MD still have a significant role to play, at least in the medium term," Mr Lee said.
"Although portable and convenient, consumers are still hesitant to play MP3 music through speakers, a trend reflected in the fact that most respondents indicated that they are unlikely to change their CD and MD purchase volumes in the next twelve months.
"Until quality improves and paid online music downloads become the norm, it seems unlikely that digital music will replace CDs and MDs in our homes anytime soon," Mr Lee added.
About the Survey
In July 2005, a series of questions were explored via AsiaBUS™, Synovate's monthly omnibus survey. A representative sample of consumers aged 15-64 were interviewed via telephone (face to face in the Philippines) in the markets of China (Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Wuhan), Hong Kong, Indonesia, Korea, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.
Contact(s) for this press release
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Georgia McCafferty
Marketing and Communications Manager Asia |
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9/F Leighton Centre |
Telephone: +852 2837 8277 |
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Henrietta Sung
Synovate Marketing Manager |
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Telephone: +1 647 837 5053 |
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Synovate generates insights to help clients drive competitive brand, product and customer experience strategies. Now part of Ipsos, with offices in over 80 countries, our approach combines best in class global research capabilities with personalised service, local knowledge and the flexibility to create teams and processes that meet clients' specific requirements. At Synovate, our clients sit at the top of our organisational chart, driving us to continually develop more innovative research solutions that predict actual business outcomes.
For more information on Synovate visit www.synovate.com.