New drive to stamp out music piracy

A new plan to help curb music piracy was being unveiled in the UK today.

The British Phonographic Institute (BPI) in London was spelling out a new plan to try to stamp out illegal music downloads.

The BPI was also revealing new data on piracy and its effects on British music.

Previously, the BPI has warned illegal copying would have a long-term effect on the artists invested in by record companies.

In 2002, there were a total of 184 million units of unauthorised and pirated music – a figure approaching the number of legitimate CD albums sales, which totalled 222 million.