Piracy to the tune of $4.6bn
2005-06-23 15:11
Madrid - One of every three musical discs sold in the world last year was pirated, with sales totalling $4.6bn, an industry group said on Thursday.
In 31 countries, fake recordings outsell legal ones, the International Federation of Phonographic Industries (IFPI) said in its annual report.
It said, however, that some countries are cracking down on copyright theft by shutting down illegal CD recording facilities.
The London-based federation said it was releasing the report in Madrid because Spain is one of Europe's worst culprits when it comes to pirating music.
The federation named Spain and nine other countries as priorities: Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Pakistan, Paraguay, Russia and Ukraine.
"The music industry fights piracy because if it did not, the music industry would quite simply not exist," IFPI chairperson John Kennedy wrote in the report.
The value of the world pirate market for music is equal to the legitimate markets of Britain, the Netherlands and Spain combined, the report said.
- AP