Reporting the findings of its recent survey, the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) has said that the recent onslaught by the government against illegal file sharing notwithstanding, there has been no decrease in the number of people who download music illegally.

The results of the BPI online survey, in which 3,000 UK residents between 16 and 54 years of age took part, revealed that as many as 1,012 people said that they were downloading or filesharing music from different web sources or peer-to-peer (P2P) networks. Moreover, these current users of unlawful services also said that they intending increasing their illegal activities in the next six months.

Despite the fact that the survey revealed the more or less steady levels of illegal file sharing all through 2009, the BPI elaborated that, during the last six-month period, there had been a notable rise in the use of web-based or “non-P2P” methods during the last six months.

Commenting on the scenario, Geoff Taylor, the BPI chief executive, said that the high levels of illegal peer-to-peer use were “disappointing,” more so as there has been no change in the situation despite “the publicity surrounding imminent measures to address the problem.”

Taylor added: “The growth in other, non-peer-to-peer methods of downloading music illegally is a concern, and highlights the importance of including a mechanism in the Digital Economy Bill to deal with threats other than peer-to-peer.”