Villa+S+Focus+Group+Report

Villa S

To: Music Team From: Scott Villa Subject: Focus Group Report Date: April 4, 2010

Below is what I observed during the focus group session that I held on April 3, 2010. I talked with five students from Towson University about illegally downloading music and their overall feelings of the music industry. All five admitted to me that they download music illegally, whether through peer-to-peer networks or torrent sites. Focus Group Rationale ** The Internet has completely changed how music is delivered and the appeal of broadcast radio as the primary medium for targeting music audiences. The rationale for our focus group sessions is to determine what kinds of music Gen-Y listens to, where they learn about it, and how they prefer to get it. This information will allows us to advise Proximity clients on how they can use music to target Gen-Y consumers. Setting and Participants ** The session was held at my apartment and lasted about 45 minutes. The five male Towson students were: · Angelo, 19, sophomore undecided major · Ariel, 20, sophomore communications major · Mike, 20, sophomore undecided major · Sean, 22, junior kinesiology major · Brett, 22, junior economics major Session Topics ** We discussed the following topics during our focus group session: __ Genres and New Music __ Four of the five group members told me that they mainly listen to rap and club music while Brett’s favorite is rock. Surprisingly all of them said that they still listen to the radio periodically and that’s where they hear any new music. Brett said that he attends shows that include many different bands and he can learn about music this way as well. __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> Obtaining Music __ <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">All five members admitted that they download music from either peer-to-peer networks such as Limewire or torrent sites. Sean told me that a program called Vuze allows you to download pretty much any song, album, movie, and even computer program that you wish. The four others use Limewire mostly but some say that there are websites that are even easier to use and more reliable. __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> Illegal Downloading __ <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Not one of the five focus group members uses iTunes to buy legal music or any other paid music store. They take the music files from Limewire and other programs and import them into their iPods or Zunes. __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> Consequences of Illegally Downloading __ <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">All five members agreed to have heard about legal implications given to those who have been caught with illegal files, yet they continue to download. One member of the group told me that he might delete certain files after copying or burning them to another source to help hide his involvement. Findings: ** <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">This session has taught us the following about these Gen-Y students: <span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; msobidifontfamily: Symbol; msofareastfontfamily: Symbol; msolist: Ignore;">· <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">They mainly listen to rap and club music and they hear about new music on the radio <span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; msobidifontfamily: Symbol; msofareastfontfamily: Symbol; msolist: Ignore;">· <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Most use Limewire or torrent websites to obtain their music for free <span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; msobidifontfamily: Symbol; msofareastfontfamily: Symbol; msolist: Ignore;">· <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">They can import these illegally downloaded files to their music devices ( iPod and Zune) <span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; msobidifontfamily: Symbol; msofareastfontfamily: Symbol; msolist: Ignore;">· <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">None fear the fact that others have been fined heavily
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