Appeal for ISPs to play fair on piracy.

Give filesharers rules and they will think twice, says IFPI's Kennedy

IFPI chairman and CEO John Kennedy is convinced young people who illegally share music over the internet would back firm action by ISPs to crack down on piracy, rather than the current pattern of piecemeal legal activity.

Kennedy made this bold prediction following the release of the IFPI's 2008 Digital Music Report, in which the organisation urged governments to lean on ISPs to cut down on digital music piracy.

"The message is pretty simple," Kennedy says. "We are trying to grow a great digital business and we are way ahead of other industries, like newspapers, films and books. We have got a $3bn (#1.52bn) business in a short period of time but we are suffering from a big fall in physical sales.

"We are seeing people migrate to the digital world but the problem is there is a great offer out there called free. Nobody can compete with free.

"I have for a long time felt that ISPs can play a role," he adds. "Kids know that it is wrong [to illegally share files] but they say to us it is very easy and there are no consequences."

Kennedy says that French President Nicolas Sarkozy's November 2007 plan for ISPs to cooperate in fighting piracy marked the tipping point in the global industry's efforts to persuade ISPs to act, especially with France taking over the presidency of the EU on July 1.