The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), which represents the recording industry worldwide, has published its 2009 Digital Music Report and revealed that 95% of music downloads (40 billion files) are illegal and unpaid for.

However the international digital music business still saw a sixth year of expansion in 2008, growing by an estimated 25% to £2.47bn billion in trade value. Digital platforms now account for around 20% of recorded music sales, up from 15% in 2007. Sadly worldwide music market revenues (all formats) managed to sink by 7%:


The report, which was prepared before today’s earlier file sharing news ('UK Government Fails to Reach Illegal File Sharing Consensus'), predicts that partnerships with broadband providers are likely to become more important in the future. It reiterated that 72% of UK music consumers would stop illegally downloading if told to do so by their ISP (Entertainment Media Research, 2008).

Interesting 74% of French consumers agreed that Internet account disconnection is a better approach than fines and criminal sanctions (IPSOS, May 2008). Well they would if those are the only options offered, which is a bit like being asked to choose between having your arm or head chopped off.