Downloaded music '95% illegal'

The vast majority of music downloaded over the internet infringes copyright laws, a report from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) has claimed.

The IFPI's report estimates that in 95 per cent of cases, artists and record labels see no royalties whatsoever when music is downloaded.

Digital music sales now account for around 20 per cent of global music sales, the IFPI's Digital Music Report 2009 found, though in 2008 approximately 40 billion files were shared illegally.

The IFPI repeated its call for ISPs to take a more proactive role in preventing piracy.

"In the debate over "free content" and engaging ISPs in protecting intellectual property rights, doing nothing is not an option if there is to be a future for commercial digital content," said John Kennedy, chairman of the IFPI.

A report from the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR), Digital Britain, is due to be issued at the end of the month, outlining how the government, the music industry and ISPs should tackle online piracy.

Initial indications from BERR suggest that there are still some differences of opinion on how digital music should be regulated.

"We received some opposing views on other issues - including regulation - reflecting the fact that this is a complex and challenging problem," said the Minister for Technology, Communications and Broadband, Stephen Carter.

The Digital Britain report was one of the recommendations made in the Gowers report on copyright laws, which was issued in December 2006.

Last year, the music industry and ISPs signed a Memorandum of Understanding in an attempt to come to an agreement about how to tackle the problem of illegal file-sharing.

www.ifpi.org
www.berr.gov.uk