Do music pirates pay attention to anti-piracy messages? An empirical test exploring positive incentives

Conventional anti-piracy messages have proven ineffective, with individuals engaging in illegal downloading successfully adapting to technical and legislative changes. With most anti-piracy messages emphasising the negative consequences (see d’Astous, Colbert & Montpetit, 2005) of piracy engagement, a consideration of alternative anti-piracy messages in the form of emphasising rewards for engagement in legal purchases of music was of interest. 261 participants (45.6 per cent male) with a mean age of 26.3 participated in an online questionnaire. Participants were allocated to one of four conditions (legal sales of music encourage future live performances, legal sales of music will allow fans greater access to exclusive content, legal sales of music will incorporate charitable donations and control) prior to responding to an original construct to measure attitudes towards music piracy (AMP-12). There was no effect of condition on piracy attitudes. Preference for digital music was indicative of more favourable pro-piracy attitudes. Discussion centres on the two principal areas of research on digital piracy – deterrents and predictive factors – where suggestions for future research are proposed based on a comprehensive literature review which highlights the need for multidisciplinary research.