Spain charts at No. 1 for illegal music downloads

The worldwide recording industry reserved a special chapter for Spain in its latest annual study of digital music and piracy. It emerged as the country with the greatest proportion of internet users who use sites that distribute music illegally: 45 percent. The figure places it above Brazil, with 44 percent, and well over the European average of 23 percent.

One consequence has been the plummeting of Spanish music sales by 21 percent over the past year, said the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) report.

New artists are suffering most as the big firms focus on established names, it added.

The IFPI's Frances Moore regretted Spain's slowness to react with anti-piracy measures. "We have great difficulties getting the Spanish government to support our proposals," she said.

The Spanish culture minister, Ángeles González-Sinde, has so far been unsuccessful in getting support from parties other than the ruling Socialists for a strict law which aims to set up a commission with the power to recommend the closure of websites believed to be infringing copyright laws. The Senate is this week considering possible amendments to the original proposal.