In a hastily released statement, the IFPI downplayed the abrupt change of tack, claiming the amended charges will simplify its case. Said IFPI counsel Peter Danowsky, “It’s a largely technical issue that changes nothing in terms of our compensation claims and has no bearing whatsoever on the main case against The Pirate Bay. In fact it simplifies the prosecutor’s case by allowing him to focus on the main issue, which is the making available of copyrighted works.”

The Pirate Bay had a different take on the matter though. Said co-founder Peter Sunde in a Twitter message: EPIC WINNING LOL.

According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry’s 2008 Digital Music Report (PDF), global digital music sales rose to $2.9 billion in 2007, up from $2.1 billion in 2006.

Now that 40% increase isn’t nearly the doubling of digital sales we saw in 2006, but it’s not insubstantial, either. Especially when one considers that digital sales grew to account for 15% of the world’s music market, up from 10% in 2006. That means that almost a sixth of music sales already come through digital channels. This despite five or so years of the recording industry’s Keystone Kops approach to the digital music revolution.

All things considered, things aren’t going too poorly–even if the growth of digital music sales hasn’t yet offset declines in physical music. That being the case, it’s difficult not to look askance at the IFPI’s calls for governments and Internet service providers to take a hard line against file-sharing.

“Copyright theft has been allowed to run rampant on [ISP] networks under the guise of technological advancement,” IFPI Chairman and CEO John Kennedy wrote in the report. “Some estimates say no less than 80% of all Internet traffic comprises copyright-infringing files on peer-to-peer networks.”–80%? Does the IFPI suffer from the same math disability as the MPAA?–”ISPs have largely stood by, allowing a massive devaluation of copyrighted music. This in turn–and despite all the positives about our digital growth–has prompted a crisis in recorded music that has wide implications for the whole digital marketplace and all those businesses to whom music is an important ingredient. … Today, however, a sea-change is happening. The whole music sector, governments and even some ISPs themselves, are beginning to accept that the carriers of digital content must play a responsible role in curbing the systemic piracy that is threatening the future of all digital commerce. After years of discussing and debating, I am convinced it is no longer a question of whether the ISPs act–the question is when and how.”

And the answer? Five bucks and a copy of the latest Britney Spears album says it’s network-level filtering.