MUMBAI: According to a survey conducted by the University of Hertfordshire in the UK, people aged 14-24 finds that youngsters still love their music and are wiling to pay for it- but only on their own terms. What stands out in the result of the survey is that 80 percent of the users said they would pay for a "legal file-sharing service." Also the fact that legal download services does exist, that makes it easy to buy legitimate content right now.

What the respondents appear to want is an unlimited download service free of DRM that could be legally accessed for a monthly fee, something that doesn't yet exist. People were quite clear that an on-demand over-the-web streaming service like Last.fm won't cut it; they want to own and control their music.

While people indicated that they would be willing to pay for music service offered on their own terms, the majority of 14-24 year olds have not actually paid for most of the music in their personal collections. The research found that 14-17 year olds had paid for only 39 percent of the songs that they owned (whether these came from legit download services or CDs), while 50 percent of songs were paid for among 18 to 24-year-olds.

The claim that young people really are willing to spend money on music is also borne out by questions about their actual spending. Respondents said that 60 percent of their music budgets currently went to seeing live music, with only 40 percent reserved for recordings. This fits with current music industry thinking that touring and merchandising is the way to cash in for many bands, but it also means that artists who don't like to tour or are unable to do so might have a harder time making a living until some form of equitable, widely-adopted P2P payment system gets worked out.

To its credit, British Music Rights (BMR) did not announce the findings with the industry's usual bombast about piracy and the death of music. Head of BMR, Feargal Sharkey said "The music industry should draw great optimism from this groundbreaking survey. First and foremost, it is quite clear that this young and tech-savvy demographic is as crazy about and engaged with music as any previous generation. Contrary to popular belief, they are also prepared to pay for it, too. But only if offered the services they want."

The survey, conducted by the University of Hertfordshire, and sponsored by British Music Rights is billed as "the largest UK academic survey of its kind."