Survey: 65% aware of illegal music copying
An independent five-country survey, commissioned by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) has shown more than 65% of people know that file-sharing copyrighted music is illegal, said the IFPI.
More than 600,000 consumers in Europe alone are now accessing a huge catalogue of 300,000 tracks that are available from 50 legal online sites.
Illegal file-sharing has been a major cause of the decline in global music sales in the last five years, the IFPI said.
This in turn has caused widespread cuts and job losses across the industry, said the music industry body.
Global sales of recorded music fell 7.4% in value in 2002, and it is estimated that sales for the year will be down by over 7%.
The IFPI and the recording industry associations in Denmark, Germany, Italy and Canada said they had started legal action against individuals charging them with illegally file-sharing copyrighted music.
A total of 247 alleged illegal file-sharers face legal action in a move that steps up the industry's international campaign against online copyright theft.
The legal actions charge the individuals with illegally making available hundreds of music tracks for copying, transmission and distribution via file-sharing services.
