Despite the efforts of the RIAA and the huge success of iTunes (and similar), illegar music sharing on the Internet is still going strong. According to a recent research, a 43% of people questioned are using P2P to download music from the Internet. One of the key reasons must be that BitTorrent and sites like The Pirate Bay have made music downloading a very simple task, helping it to become a mainstream phenomena, like Napster did years ago. Another notable detail is that DRM technologies applied to music CDs seem to have about zero effect on reducing online music sharing, which is not a surprise as the DRM protections are a piece of cake to bypass.

In its annual Digital Music Survey, Entertainment Media Research found that illegal music file sharing remains widespread, despite concerted attempts to curb it. Of the 1,700 people questioned, 43% said that they are downloading music using P2P networks, up from 36% last year.

The rise coincides with declining growth in digital music sales and the failure of legal threats to act as a deterrent to sharing. Only 33% said that the risk of prosecution was a deterrent, down from 42% in 2006.

The survey also that 18% of respondents intended to download more unauthorised tracks, up from 8% in 2006.

Source: PC Pro