Illegal downloading and file sharing of copyrighted music over the Internet is a major issue for the recording industry. Students in the business school's A.C. Nielsen Center for Marketing Research and Bolz Center for Arts Administration recently helped test effectiveness of messages about the real impact of online music piracy.

The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) wanted to weigh the success of its anti-piracy radio and print ads on a large university campus. A small group of UW-Madison business students were asked by ASCAP to determine baseline attitudes regarding student downloading. The students developed a pre-advertising survey that was e-mailed to a random sample of undergraduate students. ASCAP then paid for ads to run on several local radio stations, campus newspapers and on posters around campus. A post-advertising survey conducted by another set of students determined the effectiveness of the campaign.

The post-advertising survey confirmed that the campaign was successful. Unaided recall was 96 percent, indicating that ad placement and length of the campaign combined to create awareness and begin to alter perceptions. A significantly higher percentage of respondents in the post-test vs. the pre-test said that they believed others besides major recording artists and their record labels are harmed when music is downloaded for free. A majority of respondents in the post-test said the ads caused them to consider how downloading free music might affect others.

The student team involved in the project recommended to ASCAP that it continue the overall theme of the advertising message and consider reaching students earlier—perhaps in high school—when Internet use habits are being established.

The project is just one example of how Bolz Center students engage real-world challenges in arts, culture, and entertainment, and have the opportunity to explore and forge solutions. They often do so in collaboration with students in the other career specializations, in this case Marketing Research, to build a professional and learning network across industries.

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