I. Methodological Note: Units, Hours and
Blank Tapes Purchased

Recall that, in contrast to the above finding, more time was spent taping selections than complete albums (see Table 8b). More

specifically, although 44% of all taping time is spent in copying complete albums, these albums represent 55% of the units taped. These findings may initially appear contradictory. They are, in fact, quite consistent, since considerably more set-up time is necessary to tape 10 selections (or excerpts) than to tape a complete album. Nevertheless, these findings again point out that one cannot use time to directly estimate other types of taping behavior.

Along these same lines, it must also be recognized that the number of albums or individual selections taped cannot be directly estimated from the number of blank units bought. It was previously shown in Table 5 that our respondents purchased 257.7 million units of blank tape for the purpose of recording music. Yet, as we saw above, the equivalent of 455 million albums were actually taped. Even assuming that 1.5 albums could be recorded on the average blank tape, an estimate based on the number of blank tapes bought to record music would still underestimate the actual number of units taped (i.e., the estimate would be [257.7 x 1.5=1386.6 million "albums" taped).

It must be remembered, however, that blank tapes can be used more than once. To determine usage rates, we asked blank tape buyers who recorded music to tell us how often they used their music tapes. More specifically, respondents were asked to think about the blank tapes they had bought that were covered with music and to tell us how many of these tapes had been recorded on "only once, two or three times, or four or more times." Fully 77% of the blank tapes used to record music were used only once. Thirteen percent were used two or three times and the remaining 10% were used four or more times. This means that 25.8 million blank tapes (257.7 x .10) were used at least four times, 33.5 million two or three times and the remaining 198.4 million were used only once. To put this somewhat differently, the 257.7 million blank tapes were used at least 368.6 million times to record music [(25.8x4) + (33.5x2) + (198.4 x 1)]. Again assuming that 1.5 albums could have been recorded each time a tape was used, we would arrive at a figure of 552.9 million "albums" taped. Thus, by correcting for usage, we would overestimate, rather than underestimate, the amount of units actually taped. Nevertheless, it should be clear that the 257.7 million blank tape units purchased to record music are more than adequate to record the 455 million "albums" that were home taped.

The above findings illustrate that a consideration of blank tapes purchased, hours spent taping, and units taped will result in very different pictures of taping behavior. At the same time, however, we have seen that the data are internally consistent. That is, although one type of behavior cannot be used to estimate another, the relations among these behaviors are not only interpretable but are consistent with expectations.

K. Market Value of Home Taped Music

Knowing the quantity of home taping that was taking place, we next wished to determine the market value of this music. That is, we wanted to determine the amount of money home tapers would have had to spend to purchase prerecorded versions of the albums and selections they taped. With respect to complete albums this posed no problem. We first considered the actual cost to the consumer of all prerecorded albums (be they LPs, 8-tracks or cassettes) purchased in the survey year. Taking into account the frequency of purchase of each configuration, we found that the median price per album was $6.27. It can be seen in Table 12 that at this price, the market value of all the complete albums taped in 1980 was $1576.9 million.

With respect to selections the problem is more complicated since selections can be either a copy of one side of a 45 RPM single or an excerpt from an album. If selections are viewed as one side of a prerecorded single, one could assess the value of each taped selection as half the retail cost of a 45 RPM single. However, it could also be argued that in order to own a prerecorded copy of the selection, the taper would have to purchase the single. Based on this argument, the value of each selection would be the median cost of a 45 RPM single. Since many selections are not available as prerecorded singles the taper would have to purchase the prerecorded album containing that selection. What seems most reasonable is to again view selections in terms of album equivalents. Looked at in this way, we treat every 10 selections that are home taped as being analogous to a compilation album (i.e., "The Best of..." or "Top Hits of the 70's"). By using the median price of $6.27 per album, Table 12 shows that the market value of these "selection albums" is $1281.6 million. It must be realized that valuing selections in this way results in a rather conservative estimate. However, even being conservative, it can be seen in Table 12 that the total market value of the home taped selections and albums is $2858.5 million. To put this somewhat differently, home taping allows home tapers to bring over $2.85 billion of music and other professional entertainment into their homes.