Well I guess fining and sentencing the founders of the world's best known illegal music site to one-year prison terms does work - if you are a major record label.

It seems that in the aftermath of The Pirate Bay trial sales of  music sales in Sweden were up an overall 10.2% in 2009, representing the first revenue increase in the country since 2000. According to data from trade group IFPI Sweden, sales of physical CDs were up 1.9% from the previous year, while digital sales were up 98.6%. CDs accounted for 80% of total industry revenues in Sweden and digital sales made up 16.3%. Of these digital sales, 46.1% came from streaming services like Spotify, up from 17% in 2008. "I think the main reason for the increase in revenue is the availability of better legal services," IFPI Sweden chairman Ludvig Werner told the Swedish local Metro newspaper.

20/01/10