A new UK policy is set to tackle music piracy

The UK government has announced a new strategy to fight music piracy.

Through the 'Protecting Creativity, Supporting Innovation: IP Enforcement 2020' paper, it's hoped illegal music downloads and streams can be lowered over a four-year period, with a crackdown on the trade of counterfeit goods also included in plans.

Education on intellectual property and making the act of justice easier, through better legislation, also falls under the policy helmed by the Intellectual Property Office (IPO). Piracy sites will also be targeted, with the aim of cutting off their advertising revenue.

In the paper, Baroness Neville-Rolfe, minister for intellectual property, writes: "As a country famed for its creators and innovators, we know that these intellectual property rights lie at the heart of the economic and creative wellbeing of the U.K.

"But these crucial IP rights are undermined and devalued on all fronts by infringement, whether by the wholesale sharing of digital content through myriad file sharing and streaming websites, deliberate copying of patent or design protected products, or the importation and sale of counterfeit goods on a massive scale."

Dave Turner is Mixmag's Digital News Editor, follow him on Twitter