One third of music discs pirated, trade group says

Madrid, Spain One out of every three music discs sold in the world last year was pirated, with fake recordings outselling legal ones in 31 countries, an industry group said Thursday.

The bootleg industry is growing in Latin America, India, the Middle East and eastern Europe, although around the world some countries are cracking down on copyright theft by shutting down illegal recording facilities, the International Federation of Phonographic Industries said in its annual report.

Though a record number of bootleg discs were seized last year, pirated recordings still racked up $4.6 billion in sales, the group said.

The report did not address Internet piracy other than to say it is growing, especially in Asia. The IFPI has never attempted to quantify these industry losses because “it is just too complicated,” said IFPI market research director Keith Jopling. However, last year London-based Informa Media Group estimated them at $2.1 billion a year.

The IFPI, also based in London, said it was releasing the report in Madrid because Spain is Europe’s worst culprit when it comes to pirating music. In Spain, street vendors selling bootleg CDs and DVDs are common sights.

The federation named Spain and nine other countries as priorities: Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Pakistan, Paraguay, Russia and Ukraine.

“The music industry fights piracy because if it did not, the music industry would quite simply not exist,” IFPI Chairman John Kennedy wrote in the report.

Alcoa to cut 6,500 jobs

New York Alcoa Inc., the world’s largest aluminum producer, on Thursday said it will eliminate about 6,500 jobs globally during the second quarter as part of a restructuring aimed at saving the company $150 million a year.

The New York-based company said it will record after-tax charges of between $220 million to $250 million, or 25 cents to 28 cents per share, as part of its plans to streamline the company. The charges encompass layoffs, plant closings and consolidations, and will be implemented over the next 12 months.

During the first quarter, Alcoa recorded restructuring charges of $25 million after it cut 1,800 positions to save $45 million a year in costs. The combined first-half restructuring charges are expected to total between $245 million and $275 million as Alcoa removes a total of 8,300 jobs from its payroll in a move to save $195 million pretax each year.

Break ordered in UPS talks

Atlanta A federal mediator has ordered a break in contract negotiations between UPS Inc. and its pilots union, while still encouraging the two sides to come together on their own to end the impasse, the world’s largest shipping carrier said Thursday.

Atlanta-based UPS stressed that despite the mediator’s ordering of a recess, which followed negotiations Wednesday and Thursday, the pilots can’t strike.

The Independent Pilots Association, which represents UPS’ 2,483 pilots, responded to the recess order by encouraging UPS to make its “last best and final offer on a new pilot contract” by the end of June.

Two major items that remain unresolved in the talks are pension and compensation.

“We came to the table this week hoping that the IPA, because we were down to these two items, was ready to negotiate a realistic deal here that reflects the current industry conditions,” UPS spokesman Norm Black said. “Obviously, that did not happen.”

Black declined to discuss the two sides’ proposals, but he said UPS is offering its pilots a “very attractive proposal” that it believes would increase pay, improve pensions and enhance vacation policy.

Toys R Us buyout approved

New York The $6.6 billion buyout of Toys R Us Inc. by a private consortium was approved Thursday by its shareholders, but left some with questions on what would happen to the company that was once the nation’s largest toy seller.

Some of the approximately 80 stockholders who attended the 25-minute special meeting in an off-Broadway theater wondered if there would be many layoffs among the company’s 65,000 employees. One investor, 10-year-old Lukas Alcaraz of Baltimore, asked if the Times Square store would close.

Retiring chairman and CEO John H. Eyler Jr. said the prospective owners have not announced any layoffs.