Monday 20 September 2010 | Technology News feed

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Popular artists like Lady GaGa illegally file shared over 14 million times each

The songs of popular musicians like Lady Gaga have been passed on 14 million times each in one year alone with no payment to the artist, according to a report by PRS for Music, the organisation that collects royalties for songwriters and composers.

 
Lady Gaga: Popular artists' like Lady GaGa illegally file shared over 14 million times each
Songs of popular musicians like Lady Gaga have been passed on 14 million times via illegal filesharing Photo: AP

The research involved analysing billions of swaps on global music sites like Pirate Bay and its findings illustrate just how rampant illegal filesharing has become.

On average the most popular files were swapped over 14 million times for the twelve-month period.

According to the authors, the Pirate Bay trial - where its founders were jailed - did little to dampen illegal activity from the popular site which advises people on the best ways to download the latest films, music and video games.

An analysis of the Billboard's Top 100 Albums for the last week of April 2009 identified that virtually all were available on Pirate Bay and these free, unauthorised albums averaged roughly 58,000 weekly downloads each.

Lady GaGa's 'The Fame' was downloaded 388,000 times in the last week of April 2009 alone.

Last month, the four Swedish founders of Pirate Bay, were jailed for a year and fined nearly £2.5 million after they lost a landmark internet piracy court case against some of the biggest names in the entertainment industry.

The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) estimates that 95 per cent of music downloads, over 40 billion files were illegally file-shared and unpaid for in 2008.

Will Page, chief economist at PRS for Music and author of the report, said that the most swapped files were also the most downloaded on legal music sites, indicating that consumers are driven to seek the same music in legal and illegal markets.

 
 
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