London, Dec 16: Europe holds the dubious distinction of become the new file-swapping capital of the world, stealing the crown from the United States, a new survey on Monday said.
In October, 9.35 million Europeans used the popular Kazaa file-sharing software or visited the Kazaa web site compared to 8.24 million Americans, Internet measurement firm Nilsen//NetRatings said.
Kazaa is considered the undisputed kingpin of file-sharing. It is closely watched by the media industry to determine the extent of black market trade in free music, film and video game files between Internet users.
Its popularity has triggered a slew of law suits around the world. The U.S. trade body, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), is trying to shut it down after arguing it's help send CD sales in a downward tail-spin the past three years.
The record industry in the U.S. has also resorted to suing individual file-sharers, many of which are Kazaa users. The move appears to be curbing usage in the U.S. even as it draws criticism from consumer groups.
Between March and October, the number of American Web surfers to use the Kazaa application or visit www.Kazaa.com has nearly halved from a peak of 16 million monthly users, the research firm said.
In Europe, where no such legal threat exists, usage of Kazaa and rivals eDonkey and WinMX, remains robust.
"There would need to be a definitive statement from European music executives for us to see a similar downturn," said Tom Ewing, Nielsen//NetRatings European market analyst.
The London-based music trade body International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), could not be immediately reached for comment. In September, the IFPI told news agencies it had no plan to sue individual file-sharers as its sister organization, the RIAA, had done in America.
October is the first month Nielsen//Netratings began tracking usage of the Kazaa file-sharing application although it has been able to track visits to its Web site for some time, Ewing said.
Kazaa is most popular in Germany where 1.95 million surfers used the application in October. France, Spain and Britain, respectively, round out the top four. "These are Europe's biggest broadband markets," Ewing said by way of explanation.
Bureau Report
