The services on offer also vary so it is worth browsing a few sites before signing up. Otherwise, you could be overcharged or have your card details stolen.

To register and buy songs you will have to give the site your credit card details, so it is important to buy from an established and secure provider. To get started, you will need a computer with plenty of hard disk space, a sound card and a connection to the internet. 'Artists need that financial support.' How do I download music from the internet? 'Some £200m a year is invested by the music industry, the recording industry specifically, in new bands,' Philips says. However record companies, which claim that illegal file-sharing has cost them billions of pounds in lost revenue, argue that new music will suffer if people continue to download without paying. It plans to continue to operate from computers around the world and the four men involved are also planning to appeal against the judgment that they have breached copyright law in Sweden, which is less strict than in the UK.

It argues that it does not break the law because no copyright content is hosted on its servers instead, it hosts 'torrent' links to TV, film and music files held on users' computers. The Pirate Bay website is used by 25 million people around the world – including millions of Britons. 'As the legal market has grown, illegal downloading has increased too.' The music industry claimed a victory earlier this month when four men behind file-sharing site Pirate Bay were sentenced to a year in jail and ordered to pay £2.5m in damages for helping internet users to download music, films and computer games without paying for them.īut as much as 95% of the music downloaded online is still done illegally. Matt Philips of the BPI, which represents the music industry in the UK, says: 'Sales through licensed legitimate platforms are growing, but unlawful downloading still accounts for 95% of online purchases.

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