AfterDawn: News

BPI claims file-sharing decline in UK

The British Phonographic Industry (BPI) has claimed that illegal file sharing of copyrighted music has cost the British music industry around £1.1 billion but that the percentage of Internet users using file sharing has dropped slightly. These claims have come as the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) unleashed a further 2,000 lawsuits against P2P users it alleges to be sharing thousands of copyrighted tracks on "unauthorised networks".

File sharing networks are completely legal so don't get confused by how iTunes and Napster are dubbed "legal services". The IFPI's latest action which include individuals in 10 countries bring the total number of lawsuits against people in Europe to over 5,000. Additionally the IFPI is also now using a new method; forcing ISPs to cut Internet access from people found to be sharing music.



In the UK, 100 people have settled with the BPI. The group's estimate of a £1.1 billion (approx £650m trade value) loss cites research from TNS Worldpanel, an independent research company. It estimated that file sharing cost the music industry £414m in 2005, £376m in 2004 and £278m in 2003. The film relies on a survey for the conclusion that the percentage of people downloading illegally has fallen to 15.4% in 2005 from 16% in 2004.

Source:
Macworld

Written by: James Delahunty @ 5 Apr 2006 8:47

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• 12 comments

• MrToast

  We care about England now?

  5.4.2006 10:15 #1

• dannyboy

  I care about England MrToast as i happen to live there. Anyway, how does TNS Worldpanel go about asking people if they illegally file share? I certainly wouldn't admit to breaching copyright law (not that i do) to anyone claiming to be conducting "research". No wonder the figure has dropped. There are no less people illegally file sharing,the fact is less people have owned up to it this year. What a load of turd.

  5.4.2006 16:37 #2

• domie

  we care about england about as much as we care about you mr toast, so why not stop trolling and change the record, it sure is getting scratchy reading your tired ass anti-english comments in every thread you try and hijack, stick to the point which is the authorities' reactions to file sharing.

  6.4.2006 01:50 #3

• ZippyDSM

  MrToast
  Yes its a large country and everyone in the world can look at how thier laws work and try and recreatit where you live.

  6.4.2006 06:23 #4

• MrToast

  Bite Me if you cant take a joke, im free to say what I want when I want.
  
  As a matter of record Fish and Chips is great

  6.4.2006 08:47 #5

• mystic

  ok now boys settle down as an american I care whats happin around the world see where ever my countrymen are or, they think they are, they cause all sorts of trouble like downloading or uploading as a mater of fact hell they'll steal your car out of you driveway or mug ya when your sleeping. now so why is it an intress to the USA about illeagle downloading its simple see the English at least know when to say nothing but we americans beleive in the freedom of speach so we go around saying shit like :"man I download shit all the time" no wonder the RIAA is trying to come take your hardware right out of your house. see the rest of the world has learned when asked lie till you die and point a finger at " an American Idiot" so keep a stiff uper lip and all that rott....

  7.4.2006 10:17 #6

• hot_ice

  Any country that has the monarchy, Tony Blair, and chef Ramsay in it, gets my hands down veto.
  
  Anyways, commenting on the issue, can you actually lose money on file sharing?
  
  The answer is a resounding no, these people had no intent to buy. Therefore, the real amount of losses amounts to a very REAL ZERO.
  
  That's right, they haven't lost anything, or else they would downsize or go bankrupt. Since none of the two are happening, they can clam it.
  
  If anyone's been watching Hotter Sex, the England based television show, youll come to notice that these people have 20- 70 sexual partners...
  
  Its an orgy down there in England!! lolloll

  7.4.2006 13:06 #7

• Zeos

  I love these loss figures.. There assuming that every track downloaded would have been payed for if it werent stolen.. I guarentee that 95% of the people downloading the music had no intention of EVER buying the tracks they downloaded. I have a rediculous amount of music.. and I have purchased a total of 8 albumns in the last 7 years.. They were anticipated enough and good enough to deserve my money. The rest I couldnt give a Sh|t about, but I have it because it was there, it was free, and who cares.. you can all quote me on this
  
  "I've deleted more music then youve ever heard"

  7.4.2006 22:06 #8

• ZippyDSM

  So you are saying King Gorge and his court of imbiciels are better?
  And I am not just refering to the republicans here ,are system is far far very far from perfect we might have a say in soem thigns but in the end the goverment cant goveren itself and is rotten to the core...

  8.4.2006 06:58 #9

• ZippyDSM

  Last comment goes to Hot_Ice *L*

  8.4.2006 07:07 #10

• hot_ice

  Honestly speaking here, this is a serious issue. Our justice system is a mockery.
  
  We concern ourselves with trivial things like copyright, when there are countless people out there dying of some sort of affliction and these are the real people who deserve justice.
  
  Oh! But if we don't buy their stuff, then they won't produce anything good for us anymore...
  
  Pff, what a load of bananarama crappa. Even when there is a dollar somewhere to be made, I doubt that any of this is true.

  9.4.2006 08:31 #11

• whoozhe

  Once again the record industry are pulling figures from lala land.
  There has not been a decrease in illegal downloads, just a shift from P2P to Torrents and back to IRC chat rooms where it all started.
  The sales of albums is decreasing simply because the single has once again become king. iTunes and other legal download sites allow single track downloads so music lovers are no longer ties to buying a album CD just to get one or two decent tracks.
  Single track quality is what the record companies
  Every single track needs to be of the highest standard or it simply won't sell.
  The industry, if it wants to survive, needs to be inovative. They need to find something that will encourage people to buy music that does not involve bullying. They need an overall better product that will excite buyers not push them away.

  10.4.2006 05:07 #12