Internet piracy in the UK
| SEE ALSO |
| Press Release |
Unauthorised file-sharing
- Broadband penetration is 19% of all households. Jupiter Research forecast that broadband penetration will double by the end of 2006.
- An estimated 7.4 million UK internet users have knowingly downloaded music illegally from unauthorised services on the internet (TNS 2004).
Awareness
- 68% of UK consumers know that unauthorised file-sharing is illegal.
- More than 350,000 warning messages have been sent to UK file-sharers in 2004 (BPI 2004).
State of the local industry
- Between 2000 and 2004 UK singles sales fell by 35 million units - over 50% down.
- Singles spending has declined by 37.6% among 12-19 year olds, primarily due to the availability of free music files on the web.
- Roughly 13% of record company turnover is invested in A&R in the UK. Based on 2003 trade deliveries, this would amount to at least £150 million.
Legitimate Services
- There are over 30 major legitimate services available to UK consumers, plus dozens more artist and label sites.
- The main legitimate online music services are: Bleep.com, Connect, Freeserve Music Club, HMV.co.uk, iTunes Music Store, Karmadownload, Ministry of Sound, MSN Music Club, Mycokemusic.com, Napster UK, Streets Online, Tiscali Music Club, Trax2burn, Wippit
- More than 5.7 million legal permanent downloads were sold in the UK in 2004 and some 9 million songs (including fully downloaded albums) were downloaded from legal services in total.