Piracy blamed for French music biz slide

PARIS, Jan 20 (AFP) – Record sales in France last year fell by at least 11 percent, according to the UPFI union of independent producers, which called Tuesday for emergency action against piracy.

Jerome Roger, UPFI’s general director, said singles saw the largest slump, a 25.5 percent fall, while CDs and albums fell 7.6 percent.

On the other hand, the small independent music producers, who account for 15 percent of the market, saw a 15 percent increase last year, he said.UPFI issued a so-called white paper Tuesday calling for emergency action to save the French music industry against piracy.

Independent producers reckon 130 million to 150 million music files are exchanged illegally each day in France, and that one out of every three records is pirated.

“Due to massive free circulation of music on the peer to peer network, the economic basis of the record industry risks deep and lasting change,” Roger said.

He called for increased measures to secure distribution as well as developing new sources of revenue.

“The increase in the market for cell-phone ringing tones has exploded in France,” he said, saying the business did better than the sale of singles in Britain last year.

© AFP

                                Subject: France news