WHAT IS MUSIC PIRACY? - A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE
According to the IFPI one in three music discs sold worldwide is an illegal copy. This creates a US$4.6 billion music pirate market that destroys jobs, kills investment and funds organized crime, the latter being of grave concern to globe as a whole.
A total of 1.2 billion pirate music discs were sold in 2004: that's 34% of all discs sold worldwide. But the IFPI also reports that growth in disc piracy has slowed to its lowest level in five years. This is, in part, due to stepped up enforcement efforts in countries including Mexico, Brazil, Paraguay, Hong Kong and Spain. The IFPI's Commercial Report on Piracy 2005 named Spain as one of 10 top priority countries where piracy levels are at unacceptable levels and where additional government action is urgently required. The others are Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Pakistan, Paraguay, Russia, Spain and Ukraine. The IFPI also highlights four other countries - Bulgaria, Canada, Korea and Taiwan - where piracy, both physical and on the internet, is a special focus for the international recording industry.
However, as much as this may be the case, there is an increasing amount of new forms of piracy, the most important of these being internet piracy.
The IFPI is the organisation representing the international recording industry. Its membership comprises over 1400 record producers and distributors in 76 countries. It also has national groups in 46 countries. IFPI's international secretariat is based in London and is linked to regional offices in Brussels, Hong Kong, Miami and Moscow.
