A report by Jupiter Research suggests that the music industry may be facing a crisis because of the number of young people still illegally downloading music from the Internet. Seemingly, the problem has now grown so big that the numbers of young people who download music from illegal file-sharing websites outnumber those using legal services. In fact, it is estimated that illegal networks are used three times as much as legal ones, and that young people have little concept of music as a paid for commodity. Young people basically have just come to expect music for free, and don't seem to see any good reason why they should pay for it. Is the music industry as we know it coming to an end?
Jupiter analyst Mark Mulligan said: "The digital youth of today are being brought up on a near limitless diet of free and disposable music from file-sharing networks. When these consumers age and increase spending power they should become key music buying consumers. Unless the music industry can transition these consumers whilst they are young away from free consumption to paid music formats, be they digital or CDs, they may never develop music purchasing behaviour and the recording industry could suffer long-term harm."