November 25, 2009 12:03

Sweden sees legal music sales boost following Pirate Bay case

Boost attributed to torrent site case plus new legislation

Legal music sales in Sweden have increased since four men involved with The Pirate Bay torrent sharing website were convicted of copyright infringement in April and new anti-piracy legislation was introduced, it has been revealed.

The website founders are contesting year-long prison sentences after the Stockholm trial while a new law, the IPRED anti-piracy law, which allowed copyright holders (such as record labels) to be given the IP addresses of suspected illegal filesharers, a move which could lead to them being prosecuted.

In the first nine months of 2009 legal recorded music sales increased by 18 per cent, reports Billboard. There was an 80 per cent increase in digital sales and a nine per cent increase in physical sales.

Market research firm GfK found that 60 per cent of users aged 15-74 had reduced the amount of filesharing they did since the Pirate Bay ruling.

Meanwhile Spotify chiefs said that the amount of subscribers to their premium streaming service had increased by 17 per cent in the country in the same time frame.