ACTUAL PEOPLE ARE ACTUALLY PAYING FOR DOWNLOADS

There’s nothing sexy about reports from market research companies on the growth of the digital music industry, but good news is rare, so you should perhaps skim this before going back to looking at porn.

Ipsos-Insight’s quarterly TEMPO report on digital music behaviors says that in June, the latest available figures were available, 16% of people downloading music off of the internet paid for it. While 84% of the population is flat-out stealing, the 10 million people paying for it is double the number that paid for online music at the end of last year.

Pay attention, here comes the canned quote. Said Matt Kleinschmit, Director for Ipsos-Insight, and author of the TEMPO research: “A twofold increase in the number of American downloaders exposed to for-pay music downloads in just a six month timeframe signals a remarkable shift in downloader behavior.”

Breaking it down by demographics, 22% of 18-24-year-olds have paid for downloads, 19% of downloaders between 25 and 54 have paid for a music file. Those aged 12-17 were the least likely to have paid, though they’re also the least likely to have a credit card to order something online. These numbers were gathered before iTunes for Windows was made available, so we’re on the edge of our seat for the next report.

There’s also good news in the numbers if you make MP3 players. (And if you do, please send “review copies” to HITS Magazine.) Almost 20% of downloaders own a portable MP3 player, up from 12% at the end of last year. If you read this far, most of your office must already be on vacation.