KNOW THE FAKES - PIRATED MUSIC
General
Simple piracy as referred to by the IFPI, is music which has been pirated, meaning that it has been copied (duplicated) from a legitimate or pirated copy, usually by computer without the consent of the rights holder and for commercial gain.
There are several elements common to most pirated product of this kind. For one the packaging of pirated product differs from the original. Pirated copies are often compilations - for example, purporting to be the "greatest hits" of a specific artist, or a collection of tracks drawn from a specific genre, such as dance music. Frequently (although not always) these kinds of albums were never published or released by the rights holders.
The main feature of pirated music is the fact that on face value it doesn't look the same as the original although all sound recordings on the pirated cassette or disc are usually from a previously released legitimate album.
The following indicators will assist with the identification of pirated music:
