Canada still bad boy of piracy: IFPI

Well, we’ve done it again.

The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry released its annual state of the music business report and slammed Canada for being the developed world's bad boy of piracy.

The annual Recording Industry in Numbers 2010 numbers show music revenue declined 7 per cent globally, but highlighted that in several markets, sales actually rose.

“Global music sales in 2009 fell by 7 per cent. This is disappointing, but amid the decline...no fewer than 13 countries saw music sales grow,” said IFPI chairman and CEO John Kennedy in a press release . “Reducing piracy is critical if these improvements are going to translate into long term recovery for our global business.”

However, when it came to Canada, the IFPI had nothing good to say.

“Canada, practically the only government of a developed country not to have implemented international copyright treaties agreed over a decade ago, is a major source of the world's piracy problem. A disproportionate number of illegal sites are hosted on Canadian soil.”

While revenues to record companies fell by 7.2 per cent to $17-billion (U.S.), Canada just barely escaped last place with a 7.4 per cent decrease in music sales in 2009. Spain saw a even more staggering fall decline of 14.3 per cent.

According to the report, Canada’s status as piracy bad boy is because it has not signed on to a global international copyright treaty. The report touted the two countries as having “some of the world's weakest legal defences against piracy.”

However, in other parts of the world, music sale showed a spark of life, much of which the IFPI credited to stronger legal measures that have been implemented to fight file sharing.

Music sales grew in 13 countries in 2009, including in Australia, Brazil and the UK. The report described digital sales in some of those markets as rising at very encouraging rates.

Digital music sales rose by 9.2 per cent to $4.3-billion (U.S.), a ten-fold increase over the value of the digital market in 2004. The IFPI said digital channels account for a quarter of all revenue to record companies, and in the U.S., digital sales account for 43 per cent of the recorded music market.

“South Korea and Sweden in particular saw striking returns to growth, showing how an improved legal environment can help impact on legitimate music sales.”

Top 10 global selling albums 2009