J. Weda

Elvis is returning to the building: understanding a decline in unauthorized file sharing

A set of representative consumer surveys shows that in the Netherlands unauthorized file sharing of music has declined substantially between 2008 and 2012. It decreased slightly for games, but almost doubled for films and TV series. Overall, file sharing dropped from 38% to 27% of the population. The empirical evidence presented supports the hypothesis that adequate legal services for downloading and streaming music helped to reduce file sharing, whereas a lack of good digital audiovisual services made consumers turn to illegal alternatives.

Perspectives of creators and performers on the digital era

In this contribution, a nearly comprehensive survey among creators and performers in media, arts and entertainment in the Netherlands is presented. It concerns the implications of digital reproduction and distribution for the creative professions as perceived by those working in it. Based on regressions and cluster analysis of the survey data, an analysis is provided of income developments and perceived threats and opportunities of digitisation, as well as an exploration of the underlying socio-economic and professional factors. Many creators and performers perceive digitisation primarily as a threat. Although age is a relevant explanatory factor for the opinions regarding digitisation, the notion of a generation gap is shown to be an oversimplification. Other relevant dimensions include income development, education level and the way digitisation has affected respondents’ discipline.