Piracy killing non-Anglo music, says group

The record industry has for the first time played the nationalism card in its efforts to battle online piracy. In the past, anti-piracy groups have only advocated for stricter laws - which include imposing fines, cutting off internet access and even jailing offenders - to be imposed.

The International Federation of Phonographic Industries (Ifpi), the trade association representing the biggest record labels, warned that illegal downloading and streaming is killing off non-anglophone music in countries such as Spain, France and Brazil, which until now had vibrant music scenes.

France has seen the number of local artist releases decline 60 percent over the 2002 to 2009 period, while Spanish artists have been hit by a 65 percent decline in sales of local artist albums that have cracked the top 50 in this time period. The Spanish legal music market is now only one third of its size in 2001 and fell by around 17 per cent in 2009 alone.

Album sales of Brazilian artists have declined a full 80 percent from 2005 to 2008.

'All-you-can-eat' services or deals bundled with mobile phone packages so that they appear to be free to the consumer, are seen as a compelling legitimate alternative to piracy. However, total music revenues are down 30 percent since 2004 despite a 940 percent jump in digital music sales over the same period.