Music Industry Tightens the Internet on Piracy

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Byline: By Steve Pain Technology editor

The music industry is stepping-up the fight against pre-release piracy on the internet - seizing record amounts of pirate discs and equipment and pointing to a list of top ten "priority countries" whose governments most need to act to combat digital and physical piracy

Despite the industry's efforts, music piracy remains an acute problem that harms the whole music community.

John Kennedy, chairman and chief executive of the International Federation of Phonogram and Videogram Producers (IFPI) said: "This report outlines a list of top ten priority countries where actions - not lip-service - are most pressingly needed.

"Some of these governments have made progress in 2005. As this report outlines, much more is needed."

The report estimates the value of the global traffic of illegal CDs at pounds 2.45 billion.

An estimated total of 1.2 billion fake CDs were sold in 2005, meaning that more than one in three CDs sold worldwide was a pirate copy. An estimated 20 billion songs were illegally swapped or downloaded worldwide.

The industry says this shows a high rate of piracy on the internet - but it also illustrates the vast growth potential for the …