And as if the record companies needed more bad news in the digital domain. A new report from research firm NPD there have been steady increases in P2P usage in the US, despite the increasing number of legit download platforms operating and the Recording Industry Association Of American's always hardline stance to sue serial file sharers.
The NPD report says the total number of files shared in Mar this year was 242 million songs, a 25% increase on the same period last year. Of course the 'fake tracks' that are fed into P2P networks by record labels to make the illegal source of music less user friendly would appear in that count so it might not be quite as bad as it initially looks, but the rise in nevertheless significant. Especially given recent figures by BigChampagne, another research company who monitor how many individuals are using file sharing networks (rather than how many tracks are shared). They reckon there were 8.7 million unique P2P users around the world in May, a 19% increase on 2004. Aaaaargh.
The only up side is that the same NPD report also confirms solid increases in legit download sales - with 25.9 million download transactions taking place in Mar this year, a 52% increase on the same period last year.