Artists give Newsbeat their views on music piracy

The team tackling music piracy on behalf of record labels in the UK has told Newsbeat it is not focused on tracking people illegally downloading online.

The BPI's anti-piracy unit claims it concentrates on sites hosting and linking to illegal content.

The BPI estimates that piracy costs the UK music industry £200m per year.

Newsbeat asked artists including Naughty Boy, Sean Paul and Angel Haze for their views.

Jessie J

"It's like going to the hairdressers, having your hair cut and running out.

"You can't make music for free, you can't live for free. If people illegally download your album it's very likely that you won't make another one."

Naughty Boy

"I don't like the idea of people thinking you're never going to get rich from music. You can, even with illegal downloading.

"You've just got to make great music that people want to buy. You've just got to give them more of a reason to buy it than before."

Angel Haze

"When people steal music it sucks because it takes away from all the time and money we spend putting into this music.

"I think everyone thinks that everyone in the music industry has so much money that it doesn't really matter and that's not true."

Sean Paul

"Before there was the internet, there was people selling mix tapes and CDs with your music on it - they sell it, they benefit from it.

"I get promotion out of it, which is a good thing for me, because people like my song and put on a stage show."

John Newman

"I think it's disgusting. Get some respect for the artist. It's not fair at all.

"Honestly we work so hard and a lot of people do. They're ruining the music industry, they really are and it's really not fair."

Newsbeat's been given exclusive access to the BPI's anti-piracy unit, which tracks links to illegal content.

Follow @BBCNewsbeat on Twitter