Record labels count cost of music piracy

British record labels lost the equivalent of £650m to illegal computer downloads over the last two years, according to the music industry’s trade body.

The British Phonographic Industry said record labels lost £376m last year – up nearly £100m on the £278m they lost the year before – in the music business’s first attempt to quantify the financial cost of illegal downloads.

A two-year study by research group TNS showed that music fans would have spent £1.5bn on recorded music between 2002-2004, but because of downloads spent only £858m, according to the BPI.

Read the story @ Guardian