Sales of pirate CDs are estimated to have risen by 14%, exceeding one billion units for the first time last year - meaning that one in three of all CDs sold worldwide is a fake - while the total value of the pirate music market, including cassettes, was $4.6 billion, up 7% on the previous year.
The figures mean that the global pirate music market, at $4.6 billion, is of greater value than the legitimate music market of every country in the world, except the USA and Japan.
Much of the proceeds from music piracy are funding organized crime syndicates, and the legitimate music industry in several of the worst-hit countries is threatened with collapse, says the report on Commercial Music Piracy 2003. The report, naming a list of top ten priority countries (with China as worst offender).
According to the IFPI's report, enforcement activity seized 50 million units last year, significantly more than ever before; but this is still only one in 20 of all the pirate discs sold worldwide.
The report also points to the huge losses piracy causes to investment, economies, cultures and tax revenues and calls for government reforms in three key areas: stronger copyright and enforcement rules; regulation of CD plants; and more aggressive prosecution of copyright crimes.