1. Despite seeming evidence to the contrary, the major players in the global music industry continue to claim that piracy is 'killing' new music, to what extent is illegal copying either, a criminal act, or, a democratising of popular culture?

2. Since 1999 when Napster came to the public eye the issue of music piracy has been widely discussed between the music industry, governing bodies and consumers alike. Charles Arthur of the Guardian not only argues that there has been a gain in the spending of other sectors but also claims that the industry is overestimating their losses.

3. Spain and Mexico have no laws over file share. Rob Wells who holds the position of senior vice president at Universal, claims that“Spain runs the risk of turning into a cultural desert.”

4. According to the IFPI Digital Music Report, released in 2011, Mexico has suffered a 45% fall in the number of domestic releases and in Spain, there were no domestic debut artists in the Spanish Top 50 last year. As people may suggest on the side of piracy democratising popular culture.

5. The IFPI claim that global government legislation is key to in the industries’ survival. Cut users off of Internet access if they regularly file share. A solution is trying to be made to come up with a compromise.

6. ‘One word kept cropping up in the conversation as a beacon of hope for the music industry – Spotify.’

7. Francis Keeling, Vice President of UMG as, ‘unstoppable.’

8. The Music Matters Campaign aims to convince the public that the illegal copying of music is socially unacceptable.

9. The RIAA claim that global music piracy causes $12.5 billion of economic losses every year We cannot say that the people who illegally downloaded would have gone out and bought that music in the first place.

10. The Arctic Monkeys, according to editor of DailyMusicGuide.com John Russell, are ‘a living example of how giving music away for free can propel a band into the mainstream very quickly.’

11. Despite this the music bodies and people of objection are not willing to support proposals that would provide a stricter enforcement of the laws in place. These points prove that they have accepted that this movement is inevitable, or unstoppable, for reasons beyond ease and cost and that music piracy is simply a way of democratising popular culture.

12. Bibliography - Piracy online and on the street – RIAA http://www.riaa.com/physicalpiracy.php accessed 18 February 2010. - Arthur, Charles. “Are downloads really killing the music industry? Or is it something else?” The Guardian, June 9 2009. http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2009/jun/09/games-dvd-music-downloads-piracy - IFPI Digital Music Reporthttp://www.ifpi.org/content/section_resources/dmr2011.html accessed 25 February 2011. - BBC News – “Online music piracy ‘destroys local music’”http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8471290.stm accessed 18 February 2011 - Youngs, Ian, “Music piracy unstoppable, Universal admits,” BBC News. 18 May 2010.http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10117199 accessed 18 February 2011 - Payne, Peter. “Campaign Launched to Eradicate Piracy.” The Telegraph, March 25 2010. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/music-news/7515305/Campaign-launched-to-eradicate-music-piracy.html - BCS- “Online music piracy is beneficial for new bands, expert claims”http://www.bcs.org/content/conWebDoc/32235 - Wall, Tim. Studying Popular Music Culture,(London: HodderArnold, 2003.) - Negus, Keith. Music Genres and Corporate Cultures, (London: Routledge, 1999.) - Blake, Andrew. Living Through Pop, (London: Routledge, 1999.)