33% of global ’03 music sales were illicit

From The Hollywood Reporter:“Global sales of pirated music added up to an estimated $4.5 billion by the end of last year, according to figures released Thursday by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. The IFPI also said global sales of pirated music last year reached 1.1 billion discs. The effect of piracy was further highlighted as the IFPI also unveiled figures that showed that total legitimate world sales for 2003 fell 7.6% to $32 billion. Illegal music disc sales worldwide rose 4% last year, and the ratio of illegal to legal CDs sold also increased, the IFPI noted. During 2000, the ratio stood at one-in-five CDs sold being pirated. But last year, that ratio hit one-in-three and “is rising,” the IFPI said. IFPI’s “Commercial Piracy Report 2004″ singled out 10 countries where urgent government action is needed to combat music piracy — Brazil, China, Mexico, Pakistan, Paraguay, Russia, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand and Ukraine”