February 17, 2011
By Staff Reporter
After 15 months of print and TV commercials, publications, and media interviews warning against the practice, the trade group has already asked Ireland’s Internet service providers for the names of those who have continued to download music illegally from the Internet.
Dick Doyle, IRMA’s general director, said in a statement that Ireland’s “top six offenders have uploaded in excess of 2,000 illegal files,” which, he noted, “is equivalent to 200 albums worth of music.”
The initial action will be taken against 17 “serial file sharers,” according to IRMA.
IRMA charged that illegal downloading in Ireland has contributed to a 19 percent decline in music sales between 2001 and 2004, a similar number to what the Recording Industry Association of America cited before starting to file the first lawsuits against illegal downloading in 2002.
Over 5,000 cases have been filed and over $1 million has been collected since the RIAA began their efforts. Since then, other trade groups have taken up the increasingly global fight, as demonstrated by IRMA’s latest announcement.
In addition, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry has been tracking illegal downloads throughout Europe, and announced last week that it is filing almost a thousand new lawsuits of their own against file sharers.
The new suits include the first against Irish offenders. Previous lawsuits were filed in the UK, Austria, Germany, Denmark and France. The group, which is based in London, said the suits are both criminal and civil in nature.
Many trade groups and record labels have thrown their support toward pay services for downloading music, seeing that the trend is not going away anytime soon. Such services, such as Apple’s iTunes and the recently relaunched Napster, can charge either a flat fee for monthly downloads or “a la carte” downloading per song.
iTunes has proved extremely popular in Ireland since its launch in January, and after an initial delay in its launch, due to legal wrangling with the Irish Music Rights Organization, which earns royalties on performances by Irish artists.
Globally, iTunes has seen more than 300 million songs purchased and downloaded. Charging