One in four web users 'are music pirates', says report

London, Jan.24 (ANI): One in four Internet users are illegally accessing music through unauthorised sites every month, according to a new report.

The report also reveals that Bruno Mars, Just the Way You Are, was the top-selling single of 2011, shifting more than 12.5 million copies.

Despite the growth in popularity and availability of legal digital music services, such as Spotify, in 2011, piracy is still rife, with 28 per cent of global internet users using music pirate sites every month, The Telegraph reports.

The annual digital music report published by the IFPI complied the data and said the abundance of people still accessing music illegally, was "jeopardising investment in music" and "rigging the market for legitimate music services".

The report cites the French government's anti-piracy 'Hadopi' law, (three strikes and out" legislation which temporarily disconnects repeat filesharers' internet connections) as a success - having boosted the sale of music via legal services such as Apple's iTunes.

A similar system was to have been introduced by the British government, after the passage of the Digital Economy Act last year. However, no such measures have yet to come into practice.

The digital music report also found, that despite the continued popularity of illegal downloading, 32 per cent of the record labels' global revenue now comes from digital sales, which is an all-time high for the music industry. (ANI)