With eyes of the law planted firmly on Sweden, and in particular The Pirate Bay, you'd be forgiven for thinking music piracy was born with the rise of the internet, or perhaps the 'home taping is killing music' rage of the '80s.
Music piracy has, in fact, been a problem (of publishers, at least) for much, much longer…
An 1897 New York Times article titled Music Pirates In Canada shows that - as long as music exists - pirates will be pirates, and it's not just a Swedish thing. There's an excerpt below, with more available at BestActEver. Or, if you're really interested, the whole archive is here.
(Via: BoingBoing)