By Do Je-hae
Staff Reporter

Korea committed the second most cases of online music piracy in the world after China last year, according to the latest survey compiled by Hong Kong-based Music Matters, a music forum for the Asia Pacific region. But Seoul dismissed the credibility of the survey conducted on 8,500 people in 13 countries.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism released an official statement Monday, urging the domestic press to refrain from reporting the outcome of the survey until the validity of the survey can be verified.

The results of the survey were announced at the 2010 Marche; International du Disque et de l'Edition Musicale (MIDEM) trade fair, the world's biggest music industry conference, which opened Sunday in Cannes.

According to the ministry, Korea's high ranking in illegal music downloading seems to have come from answers to the question "Have you downloaded music from the internet without payment?"

Around 68 percent of users in China, 60 percent in Korea and 46 percent in Spain said they had downloaded music without paying for it in November 2009.

The ministry stressed that whether or not one paid for the music cannot be a proper measure of determining piracy, since it is legal in Korea to listen to music on the internet for 30 seconds to 1 minute through free music streaming.

Also, the ministry said that the survey does not reflect the true global status of online music piracy, since it only involved 13 countries.

The 13 nations covered in the study include Australia, Brazil, China, India, Hungary, Korea, Spain, the U.K., and the U.S. The findings were based on interviews with 8,500 music consumers in these countries.

Illegal circulation of cultural contents has been one of the downsides of Koreans' ready access to high-speed internet connection.

Digital piracy has been blamed for an annual loss of more than $1.7 billion in 2008 in Korea, one of the most wired countries in the world.

Korea has been considered lax on illegal downloading by the international community. The U.S. once placed it on a special watch list for piracy of U.S. music and movies.

A recent report from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) cited piracy as the main reason for the slump experienced by the music industry since 2004.

Worldwide music sales have fallen around 30 percent since 2004 as piracy has become more prevalent, according to figures released by the London-based organization representing the international recording industry.

Sales figures fell from $22.4 billion in 2004 to $15.8 billion dollars in 2009. "Mass piracy is continuing to hurt the industry," IFPI Chief Executive John Kennedy said, calling for more countries to enact legislation - first warning people who are illegally downloading and then suspending their Internet connection if they don't stop.

Such legislation was passed in France last year.

jhdo@koreatimes.co.kr