An Analysis of the Acceptance of File Sharing Technologies by Music Consumers

The Internet provides for an incredible simplification and cost reduction of music distribution. However, the music industry has placed the blame on free music downloading on the Internet and on other computer technologies of music reproduction for the continued decrease in record sales. On the other hand, although abundant research has examined the online consumer behavior, few studies investigate the usage of Peer-to-Peer (P2P) file sharing technology by music consumers. In order to understand better this phenomenon of music downloading, the authors of this paper took the perspective of music consumers and conducted a survey of university students concerning their habits with respect to music downloading and its impact on buying compact disks (CDs). The proposed research model extended the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). Data analysis partially supported the model.