The IFPI estimates 3.6 billion downloads were purchased globally in 2011. Source: AP
- IFPI claim one in four download music illegally
- Digital music revenue "grew 8 per cent over the past year"
- One hour of YouTube uploaded every second
ONE in four internet users download music illegally every month, a report from a leading record industry body says.
The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry?s (IFPI) annual digital music report said 28 per cent of global internet users access unlicensed content. About half of these are said to be using peer-to-peer (P2P) networks.
The IFPI defines internet piracy as: ?The use of creative content on the internet that violates copyright, whether via websites, P2P networks, or other means.?
The body estimates 3.6 billion downloads were bought globally in 2011, an increase of 17 per cent (combining singles and albums downloads).
The report also said digital music revenue grew 8 per cent over the past year to about $4.9 billion, but IFPI chief executive Frances Moore blamed music piracy for the figure not being higher.
Ms Moore said music piracy was starving online retailers and music subscription services and the legitimate music business was working in an ?extremely challenging'' environment.
One study in Australia cited in the report found in April 2010 that 89 per cent of all torrent files were from a sample linked to infringing content.
Spain and Brazil were reported to have the highest rate of internet users getting their music from illegal sites (45 per cent). Overall music sales had fallen by about 55 per cent in the past five years in these countries, the report said.
However, the IFPI congratulated several countries on their efforts to crack down on illegal file sharing.
?South Korea has taken action against illegal downloading and is one of the few countries seeing an overall growth in revenue for recorded music by 10 per cent in the first half of 2010,? the report said.
?French authorities had sent out more than 700,000 warnings to suspected copyright violators, an act it said had helped drive down file sharing on peer-to-peer networks by 26 percent since October 2010.?
In the US, the group said most major internet service providers had signed up to a ``copyright alert system'' aimed at issuing similar warnings to suspected file sharers.
Despite piracy concerns, the digital music report found 32 per cent of the record labels? global revenue now comes from digital sales, which is an all-time high for the music industry.
The IFPI report comes a few just days after the US Government shut down file-sharing website Megaupload.com and arrested its founding members in New Zealand.
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