CD piracy weighs on music industry

The trade organisation said the losses amounted to more than the combined legal sales of the top 13 albums in the country last year, namely James Blunt, Coldplay, Robbie Williams, Kaiser Chiefs, Gorillaz, Westlife, Now 62, KT Tunstall, Kelly Clarkson, Eminem, Faithless, Katie Melua and Killers.

The BPI estimates about 37 million pirate compact discs are sold across Britain annually, and, according to an independent study of 2,000 people aged 15 years and above, 45 percent would have bought the original if fakes had not been available.

"This amounts to 16.5 million lost sales, or 165 million pounds in lost revenue," it said in a statement.

The survey was carried out in February and March this year.

The BPI urged the police to make intellectual property crime more of a priority and called for regulation of car boot sales and markets as well as making company directors liable when employees took part in piracy.

"Already the UK has a world-beating recording industry, but it will struggle to remain that way with its piracy problems worsening year on year," said BPI chairman Peter Jamieson.

In April this year, the same group reported that losses in 2005 from illegal filesharing on the Internet reached 414 million pounds and 1.1 billion pounds in the three years to 2005.