IFPI Whines About Piracy in Digital Music Report 2008

London – The IFPI has published its annual digital music report for 2008. The report contains highlights and statistics from 2007 for the recording industry. The IFPI represents the recording industry worldwide with some 1400 members in 75 countries and affiliated industry associations in 49 countries.

The IFPI report says that copyright infringement and piracy is rampant. The IFPI also says that governments should force ISP's to police their networks.

“A turning tide of opinion is one thing – a concrete programme of action is another. There is only one acceptable moment for ISPs to start taking responsibility for protecting content – and that moment is now. After years of prevarication in the discussion, the French government’s decision to seize the day is deeply refreshing. It shows an urgency of approach that is badly needed in every market where music is today being massively devalued by piracy,” says John Kennedy, CEO and IFPI Chairman.

Since the growth in digital sales has not offset the decline in CD sales, the IFPI believes that piracy is to blame. "ISP cooperation, via systematic disconnection of infringers and the use of filtering technologies, is the most effective way copyright theft can be controlled. Independent estimates say up to 80 per cent of ISP traffic comprises distribution of copyright-infringing files," states the IFPI report.

Highlights include:

• The first-ever global music download sales chart is topped by Avril Lavigne, who sold 7.3 million track downloads of her song Girlfriend across the world in 2007
• Global digital music sales are estimated at approximately US$2.9 billion in 2007, a roughly 40% increase on 2006 (US$2.1 billion)
• Single track downloads, the most popular digital music format, grew by 53% to 1.7 billion (including those on digital albums)
• Digital sales now account for an estimated 15% of the global music market, up from 11% in 2006 and zero in 2003. In the world’s biggest digital music market, the US, online and mobile sales now account for 30% of all revenues
• The music industry is more advanced in terms of digital revenues than any other creative or entertainment industry except games. Its digital share is more than twice that of newspapers (7%), films (3%) and books (2%)
• There are more than 500 legitimate digital music services worldwide, offering over 6 million tracks – over four times the stock of a music megastore
• Tens of billions of illegal files were swapped in 2007. The ratio of unlicensed tracks downloaded to legal tracks sold is about 20 to 1
• Progress in the digital music market is being hampered by lack of interoperability between services and devices, and lack of investment in marketing of new services
• The growth rate of around 40% in digital sales did not offset the sharp fall in CD sales globally, meaning that the overall market for the year will be down on 2006
• Research by IFPI debunks a myth about illegal P2P services: in fact, fans get better choice on legal sites. IFPI conducted research with a sample of 70 acts on the legal site iTunes and on the copyright infringing service Limewire. In 95 per cent of searches the artists requested had more songs available on iTunes than on the leading P2P service.

Top 10 Global Digital Singles 2007

Artist		Song	Sales (millions)
1	Avril Lavigne	Girlfriend	7.3
2	Utada Hikaru	Flavor of Life	7.2
3	Rihanna	Umbrella	6.6
4	T-Pain	Buy U A Drank (Shawty Snappin')	5.9
5	Akon	Don’t Matter	5.7
6	Soulja Boy Tell’Em	Crank That	5.2
7	Shop Boyz	Party Like a Rock Star	5.2
8	Sean Kingston	Beautiful Girls	4.8
9	Mims	This is Why I'm Hot	4.8
10	Beyonce	Irreplaceable	4.6

Chart includes: online single track downloads, mastertones, ringback tones, full track downloads to mobile, video mastertones. Period Dec 2006-Nov 2007. Combines all versions of the same song. Sales figures rounded.

Top 10 Digital Markets, Sales by Channel

Country		Online	Mobile
1	USA	67%	33%
2	Japan	9%	91%
3	UK	71%	29%
4	South Korea	63%	37%
5	Germany	69%	31%
6	France	39%	61%
7	Canada	58%	42%
8	Australia	59%	41%
9	China	27%	73%
10	Italy	44%	56%

The full report, "Digital Music Report 2008", is available in pdf format.