Study Reveals: 95% of Digital Music Is Downloaded Illegally
The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) came forward recently with statistics according to which 95% of online music is downloaded totally illegally.
The music industry has been making efforts to become less rigid and adopt new approaches to marketing. Bands like Radiohead, Coldplay and, of course, Nine Inch Nails have turned into real models in the business. There are also new types of subscription services for online music towards which the IFPI is pointing.
The IFPI said that music downloads worldwide had a 25% growth in 2008 and brought in about US$3.7 billion. This means that online music downloads now represent 20% of all music sales.
The study published by the record industry body shows that an estimated 40bn files were pirated last year alone compared to 2.3bn legitimate digital tracks sold online in the same period.
"Governments are beginning to accept that, in the debate over 'free content' and engaging ISPs in protecting intellectual property rights, doing nothing is not an option if there is to be a future for commercial digital content," commented John Kennedy, chairman and chief executive of IFPI.
