Volume of private copying on wane in Finland

The volume of legal private copying has continued to decline in Finland during the recent period, said the Ministry of Education and Culture in a press release on Friday referring to a new study.

According to the study, in 2024, some 130,000 people aged 15 to 79 living in Finland copied music and 616,000 video material.

Altogether, 709,000 people copied music or video material, which is less than in 2023, when the number was 755,000.

When including people between the ages of 12 and 14, music was copied by 133,000 Finnish residents and video material by 638,000.

In 2024, around 732,000 people in this age group copied music or video material, which is clearly less than in 2020, when the figure was 941,000.

The estimate of the total number of copies of private copying in music and video files among persons aged 15 to 79 is lower in 2024 than in 2023.

A corresponding drop can also be seen in the group of 12 to 79-year-olds, where the number of copies is clearly lower than in 2020.

The number of copies of lawful private music and video files in Finland during the year is estimated to be 156-183 million among 15-79-year-olds and 162-191 million among 12-79-year-olds.

By comparison, in 2013-2017, the total volume of private copying among 15-79-year-olds decreased from 725 million to around 260 million copies. Between 2018 and 2023, the number remained between 210 and 297 million copies.

The mobile phone and the computer remain the most popular devices for saving music.

Video material is most often saved to mobile phones and digital set-top boxes.

The popularity of saving video material in online TV programme recording services has decreased since 2023.

One-half of those copying music would have acquired the material otherwise had there been no possibility of copying, and one-third would have used a chargeable source.

One-third of those copying video data would have acquired the data otherwise, and close on one-fifth would have used a charged service.

In the past year, nearly one fifth of those aged 12 to 79 have copied graphic material, such as photographs and official forms, in Finland. The copying methods vary from printing and saving to scanning and photocopying.

The estimated number of pages covered by the compensation for private copying is 567-678 million pages among 15-79-year-olds and 582-697 million pages and among 12-79-year-olds.

The main objective of the survey was to determine the volume of private copying of music and video material in Finland. The previous corresponding survey was conducted by Taloustutkimus in 2023.

Persons aged 12 to 14 who were last included in 2020 were also included in the 2024 survey.