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Revenue for the music industry grew in 13 major world markets including Australia, Mexico, South Korea, Sweden, the UK, and Brazil, and the industry has cited tougher copyright laws being responsible for the growth.
Other major territories, such as the US, saw revenue drops.
The industry trade group, IFPI, mentions that the tougher copyright laws in Sweden, the country in which The Pirate Bay was sued, has helped the country to return to growth thanks to "an improved legal environment can help impact on legitimate music sales." However, Sweden is also home to Spotify, the popular and legal music streaming service, which the industry did acknowledge as being partially responsible for the revenue results.
South Korea was the other country mentioned by the IFPI as having tougher copyright laws that has helped revenue growth, being the first country to pass three-strikes legislation.
However, the UK did not pass their version of "three-strikes" until just recently. And a recent Australia court decision found ISPs were not responsible for the downloading habits of their users, which was a big blow to the entertainment industry's lobbying efforts for tougher laws in Australia. Yet, both of these countries saw legal music sales grow in 2009.
The US, which has so far had the greatest number of music industry lawsuits, including two high profile cases in which large amounts of damages was awarded to the RIAA, showed losses for 2009. And there's no mention of France, who passed their three-strikes law in 2009, and anecdotal evidence even suggest that piracy actually went up after the tougher laws were passed.
So perhaps the improved results in these major markets may not be related to tougher laws at all.
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Other major territories, such as the US, saw revenue drops.
The industry trade group, IFPI, mentions that the tougher copyright laws in Sweden, the country in which The Pirate Bay was sued, has helped the country to return to growth thanks to "an improved legal environment can help impact on legitimate music sales." However, Sweden is also home to Spotify, the popular and legal music streaming service, which the industry did acknowledge as being partially responsible for the revenue results.
South Korea was the other country mentioned by the IFPI as having tougher copyright laws that has helped revenue growth, being the first country to pass three-strikes legislation.
However, the UK did not pass their version of "three-strikes" until just recently. And a recent Australia court decision found ISPs were not responsible for the downloading habits of their users, which was a big blow to the entertainment industry's lobbying efforts for tougher laws in Australia. Yet, both of these countries saw legal music sales grow in 2009.
The US, which has so far had the greatest number of music industry lawsuits, including two high profile cases in which large amounts of damages was awarded to the RIAA, showed losses for 2009. And there's no mention of France, who passed their three-strikes law in 2009, and anecdotal evidence even suggest that piracy actually went up after the tougher laws were passed.
So perhaps the improved results in these major markets may not be related to tougher laws at all.
More:
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