CONSUMER
Music industry files 2,000 lawsuits
04-04-2006
by Ciara O'Brien
Illegal file-sharers are being threatened with more legal action as the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry launches suits in 10 countries.
The IFPI is targeting almost 2,000 file-sharers across Europe as part of its bid to stamp out copyright infringement. The suits are aimed at uploaders, i.e. those who put the music on to the network, rather than those who download it.
In November, the Irish Recorded Music Association took Irish file-swappers to task, with 50 cases it intended to follow-up. In that case, it was also serial uploaders who were targeted, with the top six offenders responsible for uploading some 2,000 illegal files.
File sharing has been blamed for declining CD sales in recent years, despite a number of studies that indicate file-swappers actually purchase more music -- not less.
However, an increasing number of consumers are turning to legal digital music services such as iTunes and EircomNet's Music Club, despite their restrictions, in a bid to boost their collections. The latest data on the European digital music suggest the market is in for a boom; it is expected to generate revenues of EUR1.6 billion by 2011.
The report, by JupiterResearch, claims that in five years time the digital music market will account for 16 percent of total recorded music revenues.
Although the threat of legal action has scared some would-be file-sharers off using the networks, the success of the strategy is debatable.
In 2005, legal music sales surpassed the USD1 billion mark, trebling in the space of a year.
However, illegal file-sharing services are still going strong, with a November report from Jupiter Research indicating that legal sites are still losing out, with consumers three times more likely to get their digital music from file-sharing networks.
Despite the increase in digital sales though, it seems total music sales are down 3 percent, something the record labels are blaming on the decline in physical formats, such as CDs.
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