Spain's musical output includes a long history of innovation in Western and Andalusian classical music, as well as a domestic popular music industry, and diverse styles of folk music. In addition, modern Spain has a number of performers in the fields of rock and roll, heavy metal, punk rock and hip hop.

The most well-known variety of Spanish folk music is likely flamenco, a diverse genre created by Andalusian Roma. Flamenco is known since at least the 1770s, and has been through several cycles of dwindling popularity and rebirth. The style has produced many of the most famous Spanish musicians, including singer Camarón de la Isla and guitarist Carlos Montoya.

Outside of flamenco, regional Spanish folk music includes the distinct Basque trikitrixa and accordion music, Galician and Asturian gaita (bagpipe) and Aragonese jota. Though some folk traditions have died out or are moribund, some retain great popularity and have been modernized and adapted to new instruments, styles and formats. These include the popular Celtic music of Galicia, the singer-songwriter tradition of nova canço and New Flamenco.

The first popular music of Spain began to appear in about 1959, with the fall of Francisco Franco. Soon, Ye-Yé dominated the Spanish charts, followed by the important of American and British rock, French singers and other pop stars.

A round-up of anti-piracy actions worldwide

January 2004

SPAIN

Spain's Guardia Civil police detained fourteen alleged hackers in January accused of distributing, for profit, around half a million unauthorised music and film files via different universities' networks in Spain and abroad.

An investigation into their activities - called Operation SNORT - started in the summer 2003 after complaints about hacker attacks and intrusions on computers were received from the University of Vigo. Following additional complaints filed by AFYVE, Spain's recording industry group and IFPI affiliate, and EGEDA (Audiovisual Producers' rights' society) a judge granted search warrants for suspected addresses. Using software called Snort which tracks communications between computers it was possible to identify the IP addresses used by the hackers.

During November and December last year eleven searches were carried out in various locations throughout Spain. The operation resulted in the arrest of fourteen people charged with alleged infringements against intellectual property, unauthorised use of computer systems and unlawful use of private information. These are all crimes under the Spanish Criminal Code.

Prior to the case, AFYVE had launched an important awareness campaign aimed at Spanish universities, where copies of IFPI's Copyright Use and Security Guides were distributed widely. The guide advises academic institutions of the legal and technical risks they run when copyright material is copied and transmitted over computer networks without permission from the rights owners

Guardia Civil police are studying computer hard drives and documentation seized in the raids, in what is being described as the largest anti-piracy operation of its type in Spain.