Kids To Music Industry: “I Download Because It’s How I Was Raised. No, Really.”

A recent European Commission study of childrens’ attitudes toward downloading saw a variety of excuses from the leeching kids–”CDs are too expensive,” “I watch Cribs and all those artists’ houses are a lot nicer than my crappy place”–but No. 1 on the list was “everyone else is doing it, including my parents.” So what’s the obvious solution to this problem for the remake-crazy music industry? A new version of the “I learned it by watching you!!” public-service announcement that, perhaps not coincidentally, is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. Sure, the unearthing of the kid’s stolen-music trove won’t be as dramatic as waving around a cigar box full of drug paraphernalia, but if the powers that be do it right, this message can be spread far and wide through the viral power of YouTube, or at least FunnyOrDie.com.

Study finds kids justify illegal downloads [Reuters]