BPI: U.K. Album Prices Down, Piracy On The Rise

Average retail prices paid by music consumers in the U.K. continue to decline, according to a new survey published by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI).
On average, the cost of a CD album fell 2% to £10.13 ($14.79) over the 12 months to March 30. The dwindling singles market, meanwhile, saw prices rise--an increase of 2% for the average CD single, to £3.50 ($5.11). Since early 2000, the average cost of albums has dropped 5.3%, while singles have climbed 8.3%.

U.K. supermarkets and e-tailers showed the biggest year-on-year gains in the market for album sales. In the first quarter of 2002, supermarkets accounted for 15.1% of album expenditures, up from 13.5% in the same period last year. Online retailers had 5%. Music specialists had a 51% share.

The BPI also revealed figures on piracy in the U.K. during 2001. Commercial piracy increased by 30% from 2000. The estimated value of sales of the pirated material was £27.6 million ($40.3 million). These figures represent counterfeit recordings (replicas of legitimate recordings); pirate recordings (duplicates that are marketed with different packaging); and bootlegs of live recordings, either concerts or broadcast.

The BPI anti-piracy unit was involved in more than 500 criminal cases during the year, including raids on dealers of counterfeit CDs and bootlegs, and arrests at computer fairs. Efforts were also redoubled to shut down unauthorized MP3 Web sites.

The piracy figures do not take into account the number of legitimate sales lost to CD burning at home. In 2001, 308 million blank CD-Rs were sold in the U.K.; estimates are that nearly 40% of those were used to record music.

The IFPI tomorrow unveils its global report on music piracy.