The lifestyle and consumption patterns of the current mobile generation (m‐generation), born after the Internet gained popularity, have changed dramatically. This study investigated university students' consumption attitude toward pop music and their behavior of illegally downloading such music by considering different law enforcement environments. In the first stage of our study, we designed and administered a questionnaire survey and collected 424 responses. The valid sample size was 394. On the basis of the sample, we developed a behavioral model that could be customized according to individual observation. In the second stage, we developed an agent‐based model for performing a simulation. This study divided law enforcement environments into combinations of the probability of being arrested engaging in illegal downloading behavior and the financial penalty after being caught. The results revealed that in an environment where the strength of law enforcement is increased, the agents' willingness to illegally download music in the model decreases. This empirical study highlighted that the deterrent effects in both the real world and simulated model were more sensitive to the probability of being caught primarily because of illegal downloading behavior. Therefore, the study suggests that for the m‐generation of the post‐Internet age, the most feasible approach to achieving instant results is through effective and certain law enforcement, which can effectively reduce the copyright infringement in the pop music industry caused by illegal downloading. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.