Funny how these things work. Earlier in the day, we posted on the growing mainstream acceptance of illegal downloading. On the same day, a study comes out in England arguing that the number of people downloading music illegally is shrinking ever so slightly.

According to a study of 1,500 music fans, 39% download music illegally, down from 43% the previous year. That's not a drastic leap; it's close to the margin of error, and it's still a relatively high number. The real interesting note, however,  is that 72% of those music fans said they would stop downloading music illegally if warned by their ISPs.

What does this all mean? Perhaps not all that much. People may say they would stop downloading music after  being warned, but that doesn't mean they wouldn't return to piracy after a certain grace period. Still, the study may be enough to show that the ISP method of controlling piracy, despite its questionable legality on First Amendment terms, would probably be the most effective method for the music industry to keep treading water for a little longer. Let's see if this takes off.

[Daily Telegraph (U.K.)]