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By Jo Best, 20 January 2005 17:15

NEWS Digital download sites are springing up like mushrooms - but the pirates aren't going away.

A report from music industry body the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) has found that the number of music tracks legally downloaded has risen from 20 million in 2003 to 200 million in 2004.

The report describes 2004 as the first year that record labels have received significant revenues from the sale of downloads. And with just one in ten of us currently getting our music fix online, the report predicts, the business will be even bigger this year.

With the tills ringing, the records labels have also become more willing to share their artists with the digital masses. The number of songs now available legitimately online has doubled in the past year, to around one million songs.

The number of music sites opening their digital doors to the public has also risen rapidly. In 2003, 50 sites were selling songs online. In 2004, that became 230.

An IFPI spokeswoman said that several elements had contributed to the massive growth in online music shopping.

In addition to marketing, online exclusives and a change in consumers' attitudes, "the available catalogue has doubled. There's a lot more tracks digitised and waiting to go online - it does take time," she said. "And there's the hardware makers going crazy making their fancy gadgets and the iPod."

She added that in a few months the number of tracks online will double once again.

Universal, for example, has said that having digitised its existing catalogue, will begin to put its deleted repertoire online and put more 'obscure' music online, followed by a move to digitise local content, Cantonese music, for example, for consumption outside its country of origin.

Despite the population explosion of online music shops, as well as campaigns by industry bodies and musicians to encourage shoppers to buy legit, piracy is still rampant. The IFPI found, however, that the number of dodgy tracks uploads to the internet has fallen slightly to 870 million.

The industry has also enjoyed some mixed success with its awareness campaigns on legal music. Seven out of 10 people now know that unauthorised file-sharing is illegal - a rise on last year.

The number of downloaders in key European countries willing to buy from legal sources is set to rise, according to the report, with 31 per cent saying they will go legit in the coming months with 22 per cent saying they do now.

However, that leaves almost two-thirds who prefer illegal sources. Younger people, too, seem to prefer the pirate route - only one in two of 16-29 year olds are aware of legal means to buy their music online.

"Trying to get people to pay for music is never going to be easy - it's easy to take something for free... if you donÂ’t think you'll get caught," the IFPI spokeswoman said. "Luckily, a lot of people have a conscience."

Over 7,000 uploaders were sued in Europe and the IFPI says it has plans to sue more this year.

In the UK, the last year has seen some major developments in the online music field. The British Phonographic Industry - the UK equivalent to the IFPI - took its first action against pirates, suing several music uploaders. It was also the year that saw the UK launch of now-household names of iTunes and Napster. A slew of other, less obvious, names have also thrown their hat into the ring - Oxfam and Tesco.

Plus: Read silicon.com's leader article on what the music industry can still learn from online pirates.