Illegal Downloading Still Massive According To BPI

A recent British Phonographic Industry (BPI) survey has revealed that despite stringent measures for controlling illegal music download, one in every three consumers still get their music via illegal web sites. 

The survey, which questioned over 3000 respondents who were aged between 16-54 years, found out that 1012 people admitted downloading music illegally from peer-to-peer networks or other web based sources.

The BPI reported that the levels of illegal filesharing over the internet remained same throughout the year although, it did warn that there was a surge in the use of web based or non-p2p sources for downloading music.  

The survey pointed out that illegal music downloads via unlicensed foreign MP3 pay sites increased by 47 percent, while downloads from newsgroups jumped 42 percent. 

Music downloads by using MP3 search engines increased by 28 percent whereas blogs and forum download links rose by 18 percent. 

BPI Chief Executive Geoff Taylor said there were currently around 35 websites in the UK which gave users a wide choice of legal music downloads. 

However, Taylor did not fail to express his disappointment over the alarmingly high levels of illegal downloads in the country despite awareness campaigns initiated by the music industry and UK government. 

He also appealed that the Digital Economy Bill must be passed as soon as possible if the government plans to curb illegal download menace in time.