Spain has been named by the music industry as a new piracy blackspot in the £2.5 billion global trade in illegal discs (Adam Sherwin writes).
A total of 1.2 billion pirated discs were sold last year, one third of worldwide sales, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry said. New CDs by the likes of Eminem and Oasis have been sold in street markets before their official release. Pirated sales exceeded the legitimate market in 31 countries last year — including Chile, the Czech Republic, India and Turkey. Spain was said to have “unacceptable levels” of piracy. John Kennedy, the federation chairman, said: “It is no longer acceptable for governments to turn a blind eye. The illegal music trade is destroying creativity and innovation, eliminating jobs and bankrolling crime.”
In Britain, where action against counterfeiters has kept physical piracy to 5 per cent of sales, file-sharing by computer users is a bigger threat.