Recently it was reported that a large proportion of fourteen to twenty-four year olds have illegal music on their iPods and MP3 players; in fact more than half of their tracks were reported to have come from illegal sources such as download sites, file sharers and peer-to-peer networks.

It’s believed however that this doesn’t necessarily mean bad news for the music industry.

The results were discovered this week in a survey by the British Music Rights (BMR). They discovered that some music fans were downloading thousands of music tracks each month via the Internet for their iPods and MP3 players.

However, a spokesman for HMV, one of the leading music retailers in the UK, talked about downloading music via the Internet was:

part of the landscape of how people discover music now.

Downloading happens, we accept it and adapt. It’s the serial downloading that everyone gets upset about and is really taking bread out of the mouth of the artists and labels.

The survey found that although music fans were downloading illegal music online, they were actually willing to pay for the service should it be legalised.

In answer to this, HMV plans to roll out download kiosks in their stores to take advantage of the consumer’s wish to access instant music.

Gennaro Castaldo of HMV stated:

From retail’s point of view, the model we have is that people like to mix and match between physical and digital music forms. If you’re a fan of an artist you’ll want to go and see them and buy the t-shirt, so money will still be made that way.

Of course, the anti-establishment nature of downloading is part of its appeal, but in terms of most consumers, the vast majority will engage via a mix of physical and downloads, some legal, some not. As a retailer we acknowledge and are prepared for that.

The download kiosks have already been trialled in a store in Dudley, and they created a 25% uplift in sales. The future of music sales seems to be via downloads, so rather than marking the end for the music industry, it’s just the beginning.