The world’s biggest music group has agreed a deal to make its catalogue available on a free legal downloads service aiming to rival iTunes.

British band Coldplay had the world’s best-selling album of 2005, according to figures out today show.

Legal downloads have overtaken illegal file sharing in the UK for the first time, music industry bosses said today.

Around 50 individuals and companies who illegally uploaded music tracks from the web will be hit with legal action, the Irish Recorded Music Association said today.

ONE in three compact discs sold worldwide last year was pirated, with sales totalling $4.6 billion (€3.8bn), an industry group said yesterday.

Coldplay, U2 and Robbie Williams have sparked a huge surge in DVD sales in Britain, figures showed today.

An independent five-country survey, commissioned by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) has shown more than 65% of people know that file-sharing copyrighted music is illegal, said the IFPI.

UK album sales have managed to buck the global downturn, according to worldwide figures released today.

A HAUL of 500 original Beatles tapes stolen in the 1970s and containing tracks which have never been released were found yesterday after British police cracked a piracy racket.