Illegal music downloads peak in the UK

December 16, 2010 By Molly McHugh

The UK's issue with music piracy has hit a record high in 2010, and there is concern it's hurting the industry.

Illegal music downloading hit an all-time high this year in the UK, a new report from the British Recorded Music Industry (BPI) has announced. And as a direct correlation — it suggests — the British music industry’s growth has stalled.

The report found that 75 percent of all downloaded music in the region is pirated, and in the past six months, consumers using P2P networks increased 7 percent. All this, in spite of the numerous legal outlets for consumers.

These legal services were created in response to the issue, and while they’ve assisted in increasing music sales this year, their effect has been minimal. BPI CEO Geoff Taylor claims that “this growth is a fraction of what it ought to be. Illegal downloading continues to rise in the UK. It is a parasite that threatens to deprive a generation of talented young people of their chance to make a career in music, and is holding back investment in the fledgling digital entertainment sector.”

In addition to singling out various P2P applications as sources of the problem, BPI also takes issue with search engines. The report declares that searching with “neutral terms” like “mp3” or “download” yields an overwhelming amount of illegally downloading options. It states that upon examining this, research found that “On average, 17 of the first 20 Google results for singles and 14 out of 20 search results for albums were links to known illegal sites.”

Predictably, BPI’s research found that the most common reason consumers are utilizing illegal downloading services is because the music is free.

As for a solution, the organization will continue to increase pirating awareness and music education. But if the UK’s current trends are any indication, we’re betting some legal tactics may follow in the future. A US woman was recently found guilty of illegally downloading 24 songs and fined $1.5 million, a verdict she will appeal. It seems like it’s only a matter of time until a similar situation unravels in the UK.

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hatedandslated at 2:06am 9th March 2011 An interesting post with some big understatements : "there is concern it's hurting the industry." 75% is quite a shocking number but it is hardly surprising. In a way, I don't feel sorry for the music industry - 10 - 15 years ago before illegal music downloads burgeoned CD prices were a complete rip off. I remember new CDs in the late 90s costing as much as £18.99. The only reason for this was greed for which they are now paying heavily. I'm not sure whether the music industry can believed either that it is the artist who will suffer. There has never been a time where there has been so many unsigned bands - look at the proliferation on myspace - and now artists are taking matters into their own hands with so many websites offering distribution. Of course, what these artists don't have is the excessive marketing budgets that the record companies have. But, again, this is not necessarily a bad thing. For a long time now the artists who make it big are very rarely the most talented - the prime factor in success is 'marketability', which, to me, is an anathema to great music. Still, something has to change, and with the increased popularity of services like Spotify, I can see that it is possible that music will ultimately be free, with the money being made in concert tickets and merchandise sales. This is already happening. I can certainly see CD sales petering out completely, which I think is a real shame. It's nice to have something physical in your hand. I like sleeve notes and album artwork but I think the next generation don't value this as much. What does shock me is the apparent guilt-free attitude of people who download illegally. Yes, the music industry takes the lion's share of profits but some does filter down, deservedly, to the artists. If you want your favourite artists to keep making great music, surely you should have no qualms in paying for that to happen? A website that is fairly new seems to have quite a novel idea. It is http://www.fairsharemusic.com With every mp3 bought the company donates 50% of its net profit to a charity of your choice. Something like this could prick the collective conscience of illegal downloaders, but perhaps not. I have started buying my music from them because I don't like the idea of the big music corporates creaming it, and of course, it feels good to be helping out a good cause. I think we will see more sites like this that are using innovation to change the attitudes of music buyers. Regardless, the music industry has changed for ever. Time will tell whether it will be for better or worse.