In 31 countries piracy levels are at 50% and in many cases the sale of pirated music outnumbers the sale of legitimate CDs. The 11 countries with the largest pirate over-capacity rates can produce at 13 times public demand. (2)

The IFPI listed the following 10 countries as the top problem countries due to weak laws and high piracy levels: China (85%), Brazil (52%), India (56%), Indonesia (80%), Mexico (60%), Pakistan (59%), Paraguay (99%), Russia (66%), Spain (24&) and Ukraine (68%). (3)

The biggest regional impacts have occured in Latin American, where the music industry is 2/5 of what is was in 1997, and the Asian market outside of Japan, which has decresed by half. (4)

In the US, more than $100 million is lost in tax revenue annually. (5)

The Internet adds additional concerns for legal manufacturers of CDs by providing methods for illegal file sharing, which accounts for 800 million unauthorized music files at any one time. A large majority of these are being made available via small peer-to-peer user sites. (6)

CD-R disk-burning technology is also driving a shift toward smaller and more numerous operations. CD-R piracy increased by 6% to 560 million units in 2005, with Latin American countries account for approximately half of global sales. (7)

  CD & DVD Replication Worldwide 2002-2004 (Millions of Units)*