german music in a  zombie  state the german music business - the third largest in the world - is  in the state of a zombie  because it has failed to respond to the challenge posed by downloading and piracy  a leading industry figure has said.  tim renner  the head of universal music germany until last year  told bbc world service s the music biz programme that the country s music industry was now struggling to survive. renner warned that unless the industry accepted  new realties  - such as downloading - its decline could become irreversible.  the problem the music industry has got is that they aren t willing to accept that the classic way of doing business is over and out   he stated.  so the music industry in its current form over here is pretty much in the state of a zombie.   the music market in germany peaked in 1997  with sales of 2.6bn euros (£1.8bn). since 2000  sales have plummeted to just 1.6bn euros (£1.1bn) in 2003. in the space of one year - between 2002 and 2003 - cd album sales fell by 13.8%. but a study by the society for consumer research found that at the same time  more than twice as many recordable cds had music recorded on them than cd albums were sold. mr renner pointed out that  because profit comes mainly from the longevity of a good-selling record  this was particularly damaging.   you need time   he added. however  peter zombic  the managing director of the international federation of phonographic industry in germany  said he did not feel the situation was as  dramatic  as mr renner believed.  it s quite true that we have severe problems in germany - but that s true in other parts of the world and in most developed markets too   he argued.  we have a severe problem with piracy  especially internet piracy  and we also have a severe problem of private copying.  i don t agree that the music industry lost control over the music market - in fact  especially in regard to germany talent  the market is quite successful.  he did  however  admit that copyright owners have  partly lost control of their copyright   due to piracy and copying.  but he refuted suggestions that the industry had been too slow to respond to digital downloading.  we were the first to implement a download service - back in 1997   he argued.  at that time it was not successful  because of the advent of piracy - it was the napster time  when p2p services became popular.  it still is quite difficult for the music industry to compete with a price that is zero as far as the illegal product is concerned.  mr zombic also called for a change to the perception in germany that private copying of music is not a problem. german law does allow people to make copies of cds for their family and close friends  without fear of breaking copyright. mr zombic said that this legal framework was a  huge problem .  there is a widespread attitude that private copying is a hobby  it s nice  it s fun   he added.  we try to make clear it s not nice and it s not fun - it s endangering the creativity in our country.