US shipments down, piracy up. (International).

The twin problems of online and physical music piracy continued to drive a downward trend in US music sales in the first half of 2002, according to new research published by US trade body the RIAA.

Units of all music shipments in the US fell by 10.1%, while seizures of counterfeit product soared in the first six months of the year by nearly 70%. Legitimate CD shipments plummeted 7% in the half year while sales fell 5.1% to $5.2bn in the period, according to figures compiled by Pricewaterhouse Coopers LLP.

Further evidence of the rise of pirated music is provided by an RIAA-commissioned study by Peter D Hart Research Associates, which questioned 860 internet-connected music consumers aged between 12 and 54 years old and found 63% had acquired at least one burned CD in the past year.

Among those who said their downloading from file-sharing services had increased, 41% say they are purchasing less music now than six months ago, compared with 19% who said they were purchasing more.

Meanwhile, 35% of young music buyers say the first thing they do when they hear a new song they like from an unfamiliar artist is download it for free from a file-sharing service. Only 10% say they buy the album.

Unit shipments of all product, including cassettes, vinyl and CDs, and singles, music videos and music DVDs fell 10.1% to ...