COMPANY TOWN ANNEX

Piracy Said to Cost Record Industry $2.5 Billion a Year: Pirated compact discs alone may account for $1 billion in lost sales worldwide, according to the director of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, a trade group. Mike Edwards told a conference in London that China and Bulgaria are the major sources of pirated material, with Bulgaria capable of producing 10 million CDs a year and China 75 million. The total lost sales represent about 6.5% of the industry’s income, he said. He said China now has more than 30 CD plants, compared to just three in 1992. “Despite the undertakings made by the Chinese government in settling the trade dispute with the U.S. last year, this situation has not improved,” Edwards said. He called CD piracy “a time bomb which could stop the multimedia revolution dead.”