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Private copying in Finland has increasingly decreased

Ministry of Education and Culture
Publication date 4.7.2017 10.35 | Published in English on 4.7.2017 at 11.39
News item
The most common devices onto which music content is copied are still mobile phone and computer.

Music and video material covered by legal private copying is copied by over a quarter of 15-79 year old Finns. The number of people making copies has decreased during the past few years. In 2017 the estimate of quantity of private copying is clearly lower than in the 2016 survey. Finns (15-79 years of age) made altogether 241-261 million files of legal private copies during the year.

The most common devices onto which music content is copied are still mobile phone and computer. Video files are most often saved onto a recordable set-top box. The number of users for new devices and services is increasing, but more traditional methods of consuming music and video material are nevertheless used alongside the new devices and services.

Music streaming service Spotify, or some corresponding service, is used by over 1.8 million Finns. Radio is still the overwhelmingly most popular source of listened music. Of the Finns who listen to music, 94 % listen to music from radio. Physical recordings and Youtube are the next most common ways of consuming music.

Copying of graphic material

The 2017 study also investigated the harm caused by copying of music and video material. In addition the private copying of graphic material was investigated.

Half of the 15-79 year olds copied some graphic material at least sometimes during the year. Of those who had copied graphic material (book, newspaper article, picture, sheet music etc.) at least sometimes 41 % printed it, 24 % saved it, 18 % photocopied it and 14 % scanned it on the most recent occasion of copying.

The most recently photocopied or scanned material was most often a form. Less than a tenth has most recently photocopied or scanned school books/nonfiction books. The most recent material copied or printed for private use has in most cases been a photograph (16 %) or recipe (15 %). The publisher of the most recently printed or saved graphic material has usually been a private person, e.g. the homepage or
blog of a private person, some company, or Wikipedia, Facebook or other online community service.

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As in previous years, the main objective of the survey was to determine the amount of private copying of music and video material in Finland. Similar information was recently gathered in 2016 by Taloustutkimus. The survey also gives a comprehensive picture of the use of entertainment electronics of the Finnish population, as well as their consumer-behavior regarding music and video content.

Taloustutkimus Oy implemented the private copying survey by commission of the Ministry of Education and Culture.