Torrent users are much more willing to buy licensed content than copyright holders think.

The company producing the well-known torrent client μTorrent conducted a survey among its users to determine how they relate to the lawful receipt of licensed content. The research methodology is quite standard: a group of 2 500 users was polled, the data obtained were compared with the results of surveys of the American Association of Sound Recording Companies (RIAA) and the corresponding conclusions were made.

Oddly enough for copyright holders, but probably the logic of “give it a try, and only then I decide to spend money on it” from the point of view of torrent users works quite well. On the whole, the conclusion turned out to be the following: it would seem that “avid pirates” are quite ready to purchase licensed content and even do it much more actively than those Internet users who either don’t know about the existence of torrents or simply don’t use them for various reasons.

Music
Half of the respondents answered that they legally buy music every month, preferring whole albums than singles - the ratio in the latter case is 44% to 32%. In other words, they are about 170% more likely to do this than a regular user. The share of those willing to pay for streaming music service among torrent users is 16%, while a similar share among their counterparts is only 2%. Moreover, it seems that retro magic is very strong among the respondents, and 45% of them buy CDs and even vinyl records, while other users are willing to do the same only in the amount of 10%.

Movie
The overwhelming number of respondents - 85% also claimed that this year they at least spent on a movie ticket or (and) purchased a DVD or Blu-ray disc with their favorite movie. Approximately at the level of 20% are the shares of users who pay either for streaming video or rent discs. In monetary terms, the figures are as follows: 52% of respondents are willing to spend $ 54 a month on movies and videos, and about a third would not mind paying over $ 100 for this.
')
In general, the attitude towards the research conducted by the company, which is interested in the results, should be accompanied by a certain degree of skepticism, but in fact the same remark can be made to numerous sociological surveys on much more controversial topics.

[ Source ]