Midyear anti-piracy statistics from the Recording Industry Association Of America (RIAA) reveal that the trade group has sent notices to 4,500 music Web sites, alleging that they were illegally offering copyrighted material via commercial Internet service providers. Billboard Bulletin reports the number is up 200% from the total sent in 1999.

The RIAA also sent 28% more notices to sites linking to alleged violators, it says, and removed nearly 350% more online auctions (or some 1,600) than in first-half 1999. CD-R seizures were up 350% to 539,130. The RIAA also initiated eight civil suits in the six-month period.

However, the trade group's efforts may be for naught, according to a new report from Forrester Research that says record companies will lose $3.1 billion in revenues by 2005 due to file-sharing and Internet piracy. Analyst Eric Scheirer, author of the report, says media companies must focus on selling better services, not locking up assets.

Forrester also predicts that artists will increasingly break away from the majors to distribute content independently -- a shift that will give rise to more value-added subscription services, paid downloads, lockers, and ad-wrapped music content. In the process, Forrester says, the content-service industry will grow to $3.3 billion, subscription services will generate $3 billion in new revenues, and content creators will see more than $2 billion in additional income.