Pirates kill industrial music

Rome – The world record market shrinks and the contraction is due to various causes; among the main ones, according to the industry in the sector, are file-sharing on the internet and the illegal burning of songs on CDs.

The “World Sales 2002 report” released by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) argues that in 2002 the value of the world music market dropped 7 percent with an 8 percent drop in the number of media sold.

“A massive spread of piracy on the internet, in particular due to file sharing and the proliferation of illegal CD burning – reads a note released yesterday by the Italian federation FIMI commenting on the report – continue to be one of the main causes in the collapse of sales of CDs all over the world, in addition to competition from other entertainment sectors and from a general economic crisis that has affected consumer spending ”.

The market numbers remain stellar but are considered a real bloodbath by the industrialists. Sales in the US in 2002 fell to “only” 32 billion dollars: album sales fell by 6 percent, with minus 16 per cent in single CD sales and minus 36 per cent in music cassettes. Positive data, on the other hand, comes from the growth in the sale of music DVDs (1,300 new titles in 2002) and of music videos in general (+ 9 per cent). It must be said that the worldwide turnover of the industry has risen by 2 million dollars, from 338 to 340 million euros.

Jay Berman, president and CEO of IFPI, has further attacked internet piracy guilty, according to him, of giving strong shoulders to a sector that is already in difficulty: “The widespread access to illegal sites, made easier by the growth of ‘broadband offer in the main markets, has hit hard an industry that is already having to compete with other entertainment sectors such as DVD movies and video game consoles ”.

But the prospects aren’t as bleak as some have said in the past, at least to hear Berman: “New and exciting opportunities are opening up for music. The record industry is moving forward in forced stages by proposing new services for the legal exchange of music online, in recent months several new sites have been born, such as dotmusic.com, popfile.de, hmv.co.uk and imusica.com .br. ”

The FIMI note also underlines how all this runs parallel to the “fight against music piracy all over the world, intensifying legal actions against illegal peer-to-peer music exchange services and with global awareness campaigns on the problem of piracy on internet with the help of companies, the government, schools and universities “.

As you will recall, in recent months the industry has contacted companies, institutions and universities directly to warn of the problem of online piracy and, in some cases, to threaten legal actions.

But here is the situation in the different geographic areas according to the IFPI report.

Sales in the United States, the largest of the markets, fell for the third consecutive year. In particular, albums fell 10 percent. Here, too, IFPI believes that all of this is due “to the poor performance of the most important albums, which were decisively affected by internet piracy”.

In Japan, according to IFPI, piracy has hit hard: “236 million CD-Rs were burned in 2002”. It is unclear whether these are illegal burns. However, legally sold CDs in the Rising Sun amount to 229 million, a 9 percent drop from the previous year.

Different data from European squares. In France, the fourth world market for music, sales increased by 4 percent overall (“this was attributed to the continuous increase in sales of the French repertoire”) and in Italy the units sold rose to 47 million, equal to 7.34 percent more than the previous year. However, as a total market value, the figure only increased by 0.52 percent.

On the other hand, the German market is falling due, according to IFPI, to a “massive proliferation of CD burning”. In Spain it drops by 16 per cent “due to a sharp increase in CD piracy: in 2002 some 24 million pirated CDs were sold, in other words, two out of five CDs were illegal”.

In Asia there are drops of 10 per cent, in Latin America a more contained decline given the growth of the Brazilian market but in a situation in which 50 per cent of the products sold are illegal.