Music Piracy Costs Germany $660 Million, Study Claims

June 19, 2012 by
Filed under: Announcements & Events, Downloads, Entertainment Industry, Legal P2P News & Issues 

A new report on illegal digital downloading meant to victimize the music industry and place the blame entirely on filesharing says that while the German film industry had lost roughly $200 million last year, it didn’t even come close the the real blow received by the music industry with nearly $660 million in lost revenues.

The study was supported by the Berlin-Brandenburg Medienboard, which endorses media companies and the video game association G.A.M.E., and carried through by Berlin-based House of Research.

The study scrutinized various academic files containing information on illegal download and streaming of copyrighted digital data and the impact piracy had on sales. While focusing on the music and film industry, the study also took a look on the games industry, but the results were inconclusive due to insufficient number of relevant surveys.

According to the research German pirates streamed/downloaded 185 million films illegally in 2011, claiming 6% of the industry’s overall annual revenues. It further explains that ever since Kino.to was shut down and its founders and operators imprisoned, movie rentals went up with 29% after just one week, and spiked up to 41% in July 2011. On late July, however, things got back the way they were as a copycat file-sharing site appeared.
The House of Research recognizes that the positive impact of piracy exists, but it’s too small to count.

“One can argue about the numbers but that (piracy) damages the industry is undeniable,” said Elmar Giglinger – managing director at Medienboard.

“We now have to find reasonable solutions. As has so often been the case, hardliner positions on both sides has prevented a constructive debate.”

The debate on online piracy and copyright laws reached new levels in Germany in 2011, especially that the German Pirate Party had brought a new perspective in the political arena.

(via Hollywoodreporter)

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