Amazon report finds 22% of purchased CDs are fake

It turns out that CD you bought on Amazon may not be the real deal - even if your order has been "fulfilled by Amazon" or even featured in Amazon's "buy box".

The music industry claims pirated CDs are once again an increasing problem, with research carried out by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) revealing that around 22 per cent of CDs that the industry body ordered from Amazon were fake.

The RIAA ordered 194 CDs and found 44 to be counterfeit. 'Greatest hits' albums appeared to be a hot spot, with 28 of 36 of these releases turning out to be fake. There's no word on how the ordered CDs were chosen.

The Wall Street Journal reports that pirated CDs are increasingly difficult to tell apart from the real deal, and often cost almost as much as the genuine release, ensuring wary punters aren't put off by a "too good to be true" price.

Amazon told the WSJ it had “zero tolerance for the sale of counterfeits" and it's "working closely with labels and distributors to identify offenders, and remove fraudulent items from our catalogue. We are also taking action and aggressively pursuing bad actors.”

Joe is the Content Director for What Hi-Fi? and Future’s Product Testing, having previously been the Global Editor-in-Chief of What Hi-Fi?. He has worked on What Hi-Fi? across the print magazine and website for almost 20 years, writing news, reviews and features on everything from turntables to TVs, headphones to hi-fi separates. He has covered product launch events across the world, from Apple to Technics, Sony and Samsung; reported from CES, the Bristol Show, and Munich High End for many years; and written for sites such as the BBC, Stuff and The Guardian. In his spare time, he enjoys expanding his vinyl collection and cycling (not at the same time).