The music industry has lost more than 30 percent in sales since 2001 because of illegal downloading, a top industry official said Wednesday, giving evidence in a Swedish trial.
John Kennedy, the head of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, told the Stockholm District Court that Swedish site The Pirate Bay had become “the No. 1 source of illegal music,” following court actions against two other popular file-sharing sites, Grokster and Kazaa.
“Over a period of time, piracy has done immense damage to the music industry,” Kennedy said, adding that illegal Internet downloads had caused industry sales to tumble from $27 billion in 2001 to $18 billion in 2008.
Kennedy testified on behalf of a handful of record companies, including Sony BMG and EMI, which together with movie companies such as Universal and Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. are seeking 117 million kronor ($13.2 million) in compensation and damages.
“I believe they are justified and may even be conservative because the damage is immense,” he said of the claim.
Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, 28, Peter Sunde, 30, Fredrik Neij, 30, and Carl Lundstrom, 48, are accused of breaking Swedish copyright law by helping millions of Internet users download protected music, movies and computer games for free through The Pirate Bay. They have pleaded not guilty.
According to IFPI, the Pirate Bay is the biggest site of its kind in the world, with 22 million users.
The defendants say their site doesn’t violate any laws because it does not host any copyrighted material. Instead, it directs users to other file-sharers, with whom they connect through so-called torrent files to download content. If convicted the four would each face up to two years in prison.
After his testimony, Kennedy told The Associated Press that the defendants were “hiding” behind their torrent technology, saying they still contribute in making copyright-protected works…