Music Piracy Market Value: $4.5 Billion
Music Piracy is the unauthorized copying, selling, and distributing of licensed music without the permission of the copyright holder.
The IFPI states the pirate trade in music is valued at $4.5 billion.
Source: International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), “ The Recording Industry 2006 Piracy Report,” July 27, 2006, pg.4, (last accessed: November 1, 2006).
95 percent of music tracks online are pirated
The music industry estimates that up to 95 percent of all music tracks online are pirated.
Source: Eric Pfanner, “Universal Music and Virgin Reach a Download Deal,” New York Times, June 15, 2009.
“I speak French. Excuse me.”
The New York Times reports on the lack of knowledge by French politicians regarding peer-to-peer technology.
In a video shot for an online news site, French legislators were asked whether they were familiar with peer-to-peer file-sharing technology. “No,” one lawmaker responded, rolling his eyes. “I speak French. Excuse me.”
2008 Music Piracy losses by Country
Below is the most recent figures regarding losses due to music piracy by country. The figures are from the International Intellectual Property Alliance.
|
|
Country |
Losses |
|
1 |
China |
564 Million |
|
2 |
Mexico |
419.7 Million |
|
3 |
Italy |
350 Million |
|
4 |
Russia |
313 Million |
|
5 |
Brazil |
117.1 Million |
|
6 |
Philippines |
117 Million |
|
7 |
Poland |
100 Million |
|
8 |
Argentina |
75.1 Million |
|
9 |
Peru |
57.2 Million |
|
10 |
Nigeria |
55 Million |
|
11 |
India |
36.2 Million |
|
12 |
Ukraine |
35 Million |
|
13 |
Malaysia |
26.2 Million |
|
14 |
Pakistan |
25 Million |
|
14 |
Saudi Arabia |
25 Million |
|
16 |
Turkey |
22 Million |
|
17 |
Thailand |
21.7 Million |
|
18 |
Chile |
21 Million |
|
19 |
Hungary |
20 Million |
|
19 |
Indonesia |
20 Million |
|
21 |
Egypt |
15 Million |
|
22 |
Costa Rica |
14.8 Million |
|
23 |
Spain |
13.4 Million |
|
24 |
Romania |
10 Million |
|
24 |
Kuwait |
10 Million |
|
26 |
Dominican Republic |
9.9 Million |
|
27 |
Taiwan |
4.4 Million |
|
28 |
Lebanon |
3 Million |
58 billion lost to US economy due to copyright piracy
At the World Copyright Summit in Washington, D.C., US Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) stated that piracy of movies, music, software and video games costs the US economy $58 billion a yer.
Source: AFP, “Calls for united action at World Copyright Summit,” Google News, June 9, 2009.
2 billion tracks illegally downloaded in Spain
An estimated 2 billion music tracks were illegally downloaded in Spain in 2008, compared to the 2.2 million legally purchased online.
Source: AP, “Music industry battles Spanish computer buff,” Washington Post, June 9, 2009.
Google to offer free music downloads in China to combat piracy
Search engine Google will offer users of its service free music downloads in China as it attempts to gain market share against Baidu.com. Google will share revenue with the major record labels in the licensing deal. According to reports, up to 99 percent of all online music downloaded in China are unlicensed copies. The majority of those files are found through the Chinese search engine Baidu.com.
Read the entire story at the New York Times.
Free online music provider gaining customers in UK
An online music provider is gaining customers at a rapid pace in the United Kingdom as companies attempt to find new ways to bring music to people.
According to a story in Newsweek, online music service Spotify provides offers a huge online catalogue that rivals iTunes. Listeners can listen directly from the site without having to store every song on to its computer. The service is completely free if listeners are willing to hear an ad once every half hour. Otherwise, they may pay $14 a month for the service. Record companies are willing to support the service in an attempt to limit losses from piracy.
More than 50 percent of content sold in Lebanon is pirated
According to the IFPI, more than half of all movies, music, and software sold in Lebanon are pirated. The high rate of counterfeiting occurring within the country is preventing Lebanon from joining the World Trade Organization.
Source: AFP, “Piracy sinking Lebanon cinema, music, cable industry,” Google News, February 20, 2009.
Isle of Man proposes flat fee to download unlimited music
Isle of Man, a Crown dependency of the United Kingdom, is proposing a new tactic to solve the piracy woes of the recording companies. The government is proposing that all 80,000 people living on the island be able to download an unlimited number of digital music tracks from the Internet for a fee of 1 Euro paid to the Internet service provider. The island government is taking the track that with 95 percent of music still pirated after years of enforcement, a new policy is needed.
Read the article, “Is music’s future on the Isle of Man” at the International Herald Tribune.
