Illegal downloading of music plunged the Irish music industry into a 13 per cent revenue decline last year, according to new figures that have been released by the Irish Recorded Music Association (Irma).
Just €110 million was taken by record companies here, as the number of CDs sold fell by 10 per cent. However, legal downloads more than doubled in Ireland last year, with 80 per cent of all singles now bought online.
Irma’s managing director, Dick Doyle, said that the industry would soon change the way it combated online music piracy. ‘‘Although we’ve tended to go after individuals up to now, our focus will be to try and put more responsibility on internet service providers,” he said.
ISPs such as Eircom, BT, Perlico and Irish Broadband will begin to feel ‘‘pressure’’ to deal with the problem, he predicted.
‘‘One way this could work is that, if you get caught doing it [downloading illegal music] three times, you lose your subscription from the ISP,” he said. ‘‘We think that there’s going to be a lot of pressure on ISPs over the coming months.”
He said that such a ‘‘three strikes and you’re out’’ policy was also being considered in other European countries. However, Irish internet service providers are likely to resist such a move.
‘‘I’d be very wary of ISPs being asked to take a more active role,” said Michele Neylon, owner of Blacknight Internet Solutions and a member of the Internet Service Providers’ Association of Ireland.
‘‘The problem is figuring out how you, as an ISP, are supposed to tell whether someone is downloading illegally. You could end up with serious privacy conflicts, not to mention much higher equipment costs.
‘‘I would be very surprised if any of the ISPs would be interested in getting involved in that, unless someone put a gun to their head.”
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