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One third of music CDs are pirated, says industry


Thirty-four percent of all music discs sold worldwide in 2004 were pirated, according to a report published by the recording industry yesterday, which called for tougher government action in tackling the crime.

"Over the next few years governments and society are going to have to learn to take piracy more seriously – piracy not just of music, but in all its forms,” said IFPI chairman and CEO, John Kennedy. “It is no longer acceptable for governments to turn a blind eye, or to regard piracy as merely a small irritation to society.”

The report focuses on music piracy in its physical sense – the creation of discs in vast quantities either in high-speed burning laboratories or in traditional CD plants – rather than by virtue of illegal file-sharing on the internet.

It reveals that sales of pirate music exceeded the legitimate market in a record 31 countries in 2004, and lists ten top priority countries where piracy levels are at unacceptable levels and where additional government action is needed. These are: Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Pakistan, Paraguay, Russia, Spain and Ukraine.

Top of the list is Paraguay, with a reported 99% piracy rate. Next is China (85%) and Indonesia (80%). Spain, the worst European country on the list, has a reported piracy rate of 24%.

Four other countries – Bulgaria, Canada, Korea and Taiwan – are highlighted as a special focus for the international recording industry.

But the report also commends some governments for stepping up enforcement efforts, revealing that despite the music pirate market generating $4.6 billion last year, growth in disc piracy has actually slowed to 2% – its lowest level in five years.

Industry and government enforcement efforts have also achieved results. The past year saw record levels of pirate production taken out of action, while seizures of commercial CD burning equipment in 2004 were twice the levels of 2003.

According to the report, industry anti-piracy efforts, backed by forensics and working closely with agencies such as Interpol, helped in the decommissioning of CD plant lines with the capacity to supply 380 million discs, or half the entire disc market for music in the US. There were also record seizures of CD burners, which doubled in 2004 to 28,350.

Elsewhere, UK music industry trade group, the British Phonographic Industry, released its own figures showing that while the UK has one of the lowest rates of music piracy in the world – 3.9% of legitimate business – thevalue of thecommercial piracy market last year grew 37% in value and 31% in volume compared to 2003.

BPI chairman Peter Jamieson said, “While internet piracy may have stolen the headlines, commercial piracy is rising at an alarming rate.”

"We as an industry are doing all we can to deal with this problem, but we needan effective national enforcement strategy for IP crime so that criminals cannot exploit the gaps between police and trading standards," he added.

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