ifpi

With the Stop Online Piracy Act on hold in the U.S. Congress, one might expect the international music industry to lay low for a bit. Think again.

The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry--the overseas equivalent of the Recording Industry Association of America--released this week a far-reaching report on the state of the digital music industry. In the report (PDF), the IFPI sounds off on piracy, asserting that 28 percent of all Internet users access "unauthorized services on a monthly basis" to download content.

"You cannot play down the significance of piracy," Universal Music Global … Read more

When you hear about the music industry these days, there are often figures claiming that digital music downloads--led by new initiatives from the likes of Amazon, Nokia, MySpace, and, of course, Apple--are up year over year by more than 25 percent, and now account for about 20 percent of overall music sales. But let's get the numbers straight. Despite some bright spots, the vast majority of digital downloads are unauthorized and cost nothing.

In fact, a recent report by IFPI, a body that promotes and "safeguards" digital music, says that in 2008 a whopping 95 percent of … Read more

When you hear about the music industry these days, there are often figures claiming that digital music downloads--led by new initiatives from the likes of Amazon, Nokia, MySpace, and, of course, Apple--are up year-over-year by more than 25 percent, and now account for about 20 percent of overall music sales. But let's get the numbers straight. Despite some bright spots, the vast majority of digital downloads are unauthorized and cost nothing. In fact, a recent report by IFPI, a body that promotes and "safeguards" digital music, says that in 2008 a whopping 95 percent of all music … Read more

SAN FRANCISCO--Apparently nobody--not even an artist--gets a pass from the music industry when it comes to copyright laws.

After unwittingly posting an unauthorized music file on his blog, Dave Allen, former bassist for Gang of Four, said he had received a cease-and-desist letter from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), the group that represents the music industry worldwide.

"Talk about your irony of ironies," Allen said after participating in a panel discussion at the MusicTech Summit held here on Thursday. "But I understood completely. I was wrong. I removed the music."

Allen, a founding … Read more

The Pirate Bay continues to come under siege.

The latest blow came on Monday when a Danish court ordered one of that country's Internet service providers to block access to the BitTorrent search engine, according to Danish IT magazine Computerworld.

The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry brought a civil case against Tele2 Denmark after the ISP refused to filter the Web sites its customers visited.

The Pirate Bay, based in Sweden, is one of the world's most popular piracy tools. The company, founded by three Scandinavians, doesn't host any copyright films or music. Instead, visitors use … Read more

Yahoo China lost another round in a legal battle as a court in Beijing upheld a ruling that the company is infringing on copyright laws by allowing pirated music to be downloaded, according to the industry group suing Yahoo China.

"The ruling against Yahoo China is extremely significant in clarifying copyright rules for Internet music services in China," John Kennedy, chairman and CEO of the International Federation of Phonographic Industries, or IFPI, said in a statement Thursday. "By confirming that Yahoo China's service violates copyright under new Chinese laws, the Beijing court has effectively set the … Read more