General Strain, Self-Control, and Music Piracy

Music piracy, which is often engaged in by college students, constitutes illegal behavior under the U.S. Copyright Act and, arguably, has a negative impact on the music industry. Based on prior research and a focus group conducted for this research, Gottfredson's low self-control and Sykes and Matza's techniques of neutralization along with the concept of drift, and rational choice theory have been proposed as appropriate theoretical models for exploring music piracy among college students. Based on a survey of 131 college students, it was found that slightly less than half were not willing to pay 99 cents to download a song. Ninety-four percent had illegally copied a CD and 86% had used a Peer-to-Peer (P2P) website to download music. Self-control was significantly related to whether one shared music on a P2P website in the previous six months. Those who engaged in P2P sharing were also significantly more likely than those who had not shared to support the three tested techniques of neutralization (denial of injury, denial of victim, and appeal to a higher loyalty). The implications of these results are discussed.

Information Resources Management Journal, 2009

Digital piracy is a persistent and pervasive problem for society. Based on both the general theory of crime and deterrence theory, this study investigates the role of self-control, perceived severity of punishment and perceived certainty of punishment in predicting digital piracy behavior as well as self-efficacy. The results of the study show that risk-taking and punishment certainty are strong predictors of digital piracy behavior. Self-efficacy is also significantly related to punishment certainty and digital piracy behavior. Implications of the study for research and practice are discussed.

Computers in Human Behavior, 2009

Recent studies have applied Grottfredson and Hirschi's General Theory of Crime to investigate whether college students' inclinations toward internet software piracy is related to low self-control and opportunity (i.e., computer ownership). Given the widespread use of the internet to illegally obtain copies of music and movies, it is important to understand the factors in this form of piracy as well. This study applied the self-control perspective to examine the attitudes of high school students toward the internet piracy of music and movies. Attitudes toward the internet piracy of music and movies were related to self-control, biological sex, internet experience, affiliation with deviant peers, and grade level in this study of high school students. This information is important because studies of internet piracy had not yet confirmed the presence and predictability of internet piracy in high school students. This study also suggests that piracy prevention efforts may be most appropriately focused on high school age individuals and directed toward increasing self-control.

Digital piracy has permeated virtually every country and costs the global economy many billions of dollars annually. Digital piracy is the unauthorized and illegal digital copying or distribution of digital goods, such as music, movies, and software. To date, researchers have used disparate theories and models to understand individuals’ motivations for stealing and sharing digital content. To establish a unified understanding of digital piracy research in order to set an agenda for future studies, we conducted a meta-analysis of the literature. We analyzed 257 unique studies with a total of 126,622 participants to examine all the major constructs and covariates used in the literature. Using social cognitive theory, we were able to resolve several contradictions and trade-offs found in the digital piracy literature. Further, our meta-analytic results suggest that four key sets of factors maximize prediction: (1) outcome expectancies (considerations of rewards, perceived risks, and perceived sanctions), (2) social learning (positive and negative social influence and piracy habit), (3) self-efficacy and self-regulation (perceived behavioral control and low self-control), and (4) moral disengagement (morality, immorality, and neutralization). Based on our results, we describe several patterns in the literature that suggest opportunities to further synthesize the literature and expand the boundaries of digital piracy research.

Proceedings of the 41st Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS 2008), 2008

It is well known that software piracy is widespread. While the existing research on this subject has applied a number of theories in order to understand and prevent such an act, this text presents an alternative perspective by advancing two criminological theories. More specifically, a novel theoretical model is advanced, drawing on these theories entitled Techniques of Neutralization and Differential Association Theory. The former helps to explain how individuals are able to rationalize their criminal behaviour in a manner which absolves them of pressures from social norms and internal controls such as feelings of guilt and shame. The latter explains how criminality is developed through a learning process taking place in personal groups. While empirical research is needed to test the model further, it is argued that these theories offer both an alternative perspective on the intention to commit software piracy, but also potentially open up new avenues for preventing this crime.

Journal of Organizational Computing and Electronic Commerce, 2004

The increasing pervasiveness of the internet, broadband connections and the emergence of digital compression technologies have dramatically changed the face of digital music piracy. Digitally compressed music files are essentially a perfect public economic good, and illegal copying of these files has increasingly become rampant.

2014

It has been estimated that three out of four songs are downloaded illegally. The practice has become increasingly popular as the number of online services that allow individuals to obtain music free of charge has grown, and the illegal activity has become a socially embedded practice. Given the threat of legal consequences, individuals continue to engage in illegal music sharing practices. The purpose of this study is to identify statistically significant predictors of music piracy. We have begun our study by conducting a multiple regression analysis in order to examine the impact of several demographic indicators as well as several self-reported usage and knowledge indicators. We find that the number of music files owned and self-reported knowledge of music piracy are highly significant indicators of music piracy. This study will be extended to examine the impact of economic, legal, social, risk and ethics factors on music piracy.

Creative Industries Journal, 2017

The digital revolution has changed how consumers engage with music. The present study explored the potential psychological factors underpinning why many consumers engage in music piracy. 396 participants (71.00% female, M age = 34.53) completed an online questionnaire. Preference for accessing music digitally was associated with more favorable attitudes towards music piracy, as was being male, and expressing low levels of conscientiousness. Concerning the uses and gratifications of using different formats to engage with music, music piracy was found to be a financially viable way of listening to music. Discussion focuses on the notion that recorded music is perceived as poor value for money, and this is considered distinct from the widespread perception that piracy is simply about getting free music.

2017

Background - Designed to appease the desire to listen to music freely and conveniently, music streaming services such as Spotify are exceptionally popular nowadays. Yet, music piracy remains prevalent. Assuming a psychological perspective, the present study considers why people might choose to engage in music piracy (the practice of illegally sourcing music) when so many popular and varied legal services now exist. Aims - The present study considered the relationship between music piracy and broader musical engagement practices. In particular it addressed two research questions: (RQ1) beyond demographics, can psychological concepts (i.e., personality and identity) as well as music engagement (i.e., listening engagement and format use) explain piracy attitudes; and (RQ2) are the uses and gratifications associated with one’s preferred format related to piracy attitudes? Method - Three hundred and ninety six USA, UK, and Australian residents (38.60% USA, 26.50% UK, 34.80% Australia) completed an online questionnaire. Ages ranged from 16-71 years (M = 34.53, Mdn = 20, SD = 8.98); 71.00% of the sample was female, 28.00% was male, and 1.00% of participants identified as ‘custom’. Participants completed Brown and MacDonald’s (2014) Attitudes Towards Music Piracy (AMP-12) scale, Langford’s (2003) short five-item personality questionnaire, Brown and Krause’s (2016) 49 Format Uses and Gratifications Item measure, and Krause and North’s (2016) music-technology identity measure. Additionally, participants indicated the format they used most often to listen to music (of six formats: physical (i.e., CD, vinyl, cassette), digital files (i.e., mp3), free digital streaming, paid-for digital streaming, radio, and live music); indicated how important they consider music in their lives; and estimated how many hours they listen to music daily. Individuals also reported their age, gender, whether they held a University qualification, and their country of residence. Results - RQ1: The Generalized Linear Mixed Method analysis that considered whether psychological constructs and music engagement variables accounted for music piracy attitudes was statistically significant, F (15, 366) = 4.391, p < .001, np2 = .050. In particular, conscientiousness was negatively associated with the AMP score, such that that those individuals favouring music piracy were easy-going and disorderly. Post-hoc pairwise comparisons revealed that males demonstrated more favorable piracy attitudes than females (β = 0.234 [0.069, 0.399], t (366) = 2.785, p = .006, η2 = .021). Moreover, individuals using digital files and paid-for streaming services were significantly more likely to endorse positive piracy attitudes than those using physical formats; and users of free streaming services were significantly more likely to endorse more favorable piracy attitudes than users of physical formats, digital files, and the radio. RQ2: The generalized linear mixed method analysis that considered how the eight format uses and gratification dimensions related to piracy attitudes was statistically significant, F (8, 283) = 5.715, p < .001, np2 = .079. In particular, the value for money dimension was positively associated with more favorable piracy attitudes, while the connection uses and gratification dimension (characterized by emotionally connecting with music) was negatively associated with favorable piracy attitudes. Conclusions - The associations between positive piracy attitudes and being male and expressing low levels of conscientiousness replicate findings reported elsewhere (Brown & MacDonald, 2014). The preference for accessing music digitally was also associated with engagement in music piracy, suggesting that even the seemingly-infinite catalogues of on-demand music are not enough to deter music piracy. Furthermore, with regard to uses and gratifications, results suggest that music piracy is driven by a perception that buying music is poor value for money, rather than a reluctance to pay altogether. From a policy perspective, future research could seek to establish what it is that drives perceptions of value for money in relation to music consumption practices.

Creative Industries Journal, 2017

The digital revolution has changed how consumers engage with music. The present study explored the potential psychological factors underpinning why many consumers engage in music piracy. 396 participants (71.00% female, Mage = 34.53) completed an online questionnaire. Preference for accessing music digitally was associated with more favorable attitudes towards music piracy, as was being male, and expressing low levels of conscientiousness. Concerning the uses and gratifications of using different formats to engage with music, music piracy was found to be a financially viable way of listening to music. Discussion focuses on the notion that recorded music is perceived as poor value for money, and this is considered distinct from the widespread perception that piracy is simply about getting free music.