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Digital
HP say ownership still more important than access for digital music fans
By CMU Editorial | Published on Tuesday 18 May 2010
A new survey by PC firm HP suggests music fans still want to own music, despite some saying “access” rather than “ownership” will be the key thing in the future.
The distinction between “access” and “ownership” is important in the digital domain; consumers who want the former are more likely to opt for subscription-based digital services, while those opting for the latter will want iTunes-style a la carte downloads where they get an MP3 to keep at the end of the transaction.
Obviously, a la carte services have enjoyed more success to date, though some still reckon that subscription services will dominate in the future, sometimes justifying that viewpoint by saying that the kids prefer access to ownership.
In HP’s survey 64% of respondents said they preferred to own music than pay to access a subscription service with a vast catalogue of tunes, while 73% said they didn’t expect to completely shift to a subscription model and stop collecting MP3s.
The report also says that, while 16-34 year olds were unsurprisingly the most digital savvy of respondents, 39% of that group were still buying CDs.
Commenting on his company’s research, HP Home Server Manager Shaun Hobbs told reporters: “In this technologically driven age it is easy to get carried away and think that everybody is embracing digital and leaving physical behind. Our survey shows that this isn’t the case. Britons are on an evolutionary journey with digital media still being bought on multiple formats and enjoyed using a variety of devices”.
As previously reported, HP recently launched a new digital service powered by Omnifone which offers both access and ownership, with subscription-based unlimited listening plus ten MP3s a month.
