Manchester Named as UK's Biggest Pirate City

[Sir Topham Hatt]

Manchester has been named the piracy capital of the UK, according to a new study seen exclusively by the BBC.

The research said there were more illegal downloads per person in the city than any other in the country, followed by Nottingham and Southampton.

The statistics, from monitoring service Musicmetric, conclude that in the first half of 2012, UK users illegally shared over 40 million albums and singles through BitTorrent files.

An industry group said the data showed piracy "remains a significant problem".

Musicmetric's findings said that singer Ed Sheeran was the most pirated act in the UK for the first half of 2012, followed by hip-hop duo Rizzle Kicks and Barbadian megastar Rihanna.

The data suggested that Ed Sheeran's 2011 album + (Plus) was illegally downloaded an average of 55,512 times every month, and was the most popular download in over 460 towns and cities in the UK.

Legal UK sales of his album in the first half of 2012 hit the 448,000 mark - making it the fourth most popular album behind releases from Adele, Emeli Sande and Lana Del Rey.

Other areas are seen to be more fond of different musical tastes, such as the people on the Isle of Wight, whose most illegally download artist - based on monthly averages - is trumpet-playing crooner Louis Armstrong. Meanwhile, in the Scottish Border town of Galashiels, residents appear to have an arguably refined taste in music - their most popular artist is The Smiths. More modern tastes were evident in the Oxfordshire village of Kidlington, who were said to be particularly fond of Justin Bieber over any other artist. So too in Great Yarmouth, a town that also has its fair share of "Beliebers".

Globally, the research suggested that the UK is a significant on the world stage as a country of illegal music downloaders.

The country was placed second in the world in terms of pure volume of illegal activity, with Musicmetric logging 43,263,582 downloads in the first six months of this year.

The US topped the list, with 96,681,133 downloads tracked in the same period.

Italy (33,158,943), Canada (23,959,924) and Brazil (19,724,522) made up the remainder of the top five.

Rihanna's latest album - Talk That Talk - was found to be the world's most pirated release - Musicmetric tracked 1,228,313 downloads for the title in the first half of 2012.

"According to their data, there are more illegal downloads in the UK still than there are legal purchases," the BPI's chief executive Geoff Taylor told the BBC. "[it] compares to about 240 million tracks that were sold legally. A lot of people are getting very rich from stealing other people's things. That's wrong, and we think that musicians deserve to be paid for what they do, just like everyone else."

However, Loz Kaye, leader of the Pirate Party UK - who will be attempting to become Manchester's next MP in the next election - said the complaints of record labels is "protectionism. We need to remove the barriers for actual artists to connect with their business and their fans," he told the BBC.

"The truth is, why [music industry figures] are complaining so much is that with a properly functioning internet, and a properly functioning economy, the big players are no longer necessary."

Source - BBC | What Artist is Pirated Most Near You Tool | Detailed Report & Top 20 List

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I do agree with what Loz Kaye says though. The fat cats are using piracy to make sure they still get the cheques. The artist see's very little of what they actually make.

Plus, I suspect many pirates download to listen to, not to sell on, therefore Geoff Taylors' statement "a lot of people are getting very rich..." doesn't actually hold true.

[simplezz]

A lot of people are getting very rich from stealing other people's things

Huh? How exactly is anybody getting rich from bittorrenting Rihanna? The BPI and the rest of the MAFIAA are ridiculous.

[Tom]

Hardly surprising. :p

[Knife Party]

DO NOT CARE

[thealexweb]

I live in Greater Manchester and this isn't surprising at all xD

[Charisma Veteran]

Hardly surprising. :p

I'm guessing you're vastly skewing the statistics, eh? :D

[Tom]

I'm guessing you're vastly skewing the statistics, eh? :D

I wouldn't dream of participating in such an activity. :p

[Hum]

I blame Steven

[Livin in a box]

When you live in Greater Manchester it all becomes clear why it is :p

[-T- Member]

I read a comment on this by Ed Sheeran as he topped the Scottish illegal download lists, and he wasn't too bothered as it encouraged people to see him in concert, which is where artists get their money. Geoff Taylor only cares about sales so the execs get paid, not the artists

[LaP]

oh noes ...

[Raa]

It's not stealing.

And it's time for them to get into the 21st century. Drop the prices, increase distribution online without DRM... It's not hard!

[Growled Member]

You dogs, you.