Music Piracy is the unauthorized copying, selling, and distributing of licensed music without the permission of the copyright holder.

According to information provided by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), worldwide music piracy causes economic losses of $12.5 Billion.

Source: RIAA, “Piracy: Online and On The Street,” Website, accessed: August 21, 2009.

A study released in 2010 found that despite peer-to-peer networking downloading falling by 15 percent, the illegal downloading of content increased by 3 percent over the same period.

The study found that the cause of the increase was due to less people using P2P networks but instead downloading songs directly from websites and utilizing streaming content services.

Source:  Sebastian Seibt, “Study shows how downloaders skirt anti-piracy laws,” France 24, March 10, 2010.

Illegal downloading activity through the use of P2P networks decreased by 25 percent from the previous year in 2009.

Source:  Greg Sandoval, “P2P music use down; users may be stuffed,” CNet News, Media Maverick, March 1, 2010.

The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry estimated that for every song that is legally purchased, 20 songs are illegally downloaded from the Internet.

Source: Diane Bartz, “U.S. announces intellectual property watchdog,” Reuters, February 12, 2010.

There are an estimated 80,000 mobile phone brokers who upload pirated music, movies and ringtones onto memory cards in India.

Source:  Rhys Blakely, “India’s music millionaires turn to slumdog pirates for help,” Times, February 9,2010

According to a survey of 8,500 people in 13 countries, people in China illegally downloaded the most music in 2009, followed by South Korea.

Source: “Korea World’s No.2 in Online Music Piracy,” Chosun Ilbo, January 26, 2010.

The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry reported that 95 percent of music downloaded off the Internet were pirated in 2009.

Source:  Eric Pfanner, “Music Industry Counts the Cost of Piracy,” New York Times, January 21, 2010.

The recording industry in Spain claim losses of $1.6 Billion in revenue in 2008 due to music piracy.

The workforce in the music industry in the country has fallen by 70 percent due to piracy.

Source:  Associated Press, “Spain, France tackle Internet piracy,” MSNBC, January 8, 2010.

The Recording Industry of Association of Japan stated that 400 million music files were illegally downloaded in the country in 2008. 330 million music files were legally downloaded during that same time.

Source:  Rob Schwartz, “Japan To Tackle Music Piracy On Cell Phones,” Billboard.biz, November 20, 2009.

Sales of counterfeit Bob Marley merchandise is estimated to generate $596 Million in sales per year.

Legal sales of Bob Marley merchandise generates only $4 Million each year.

Source:  Associated Press, “Marley heirs wage global war on trademark pirates,” Yahoo News, October 31, 2009.