www.musicweek.com
22.06.12 MusicWeek 21
BELOW Ill-gotten gains: PIracy poster boy and Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom’s (left) mansion was funded by advertising placed in front of illegal filesharers
ABOUT TIME WHEN’S THE DIGITAL ECONOMY ACT COMING?
As part of this feature, the DCMS has told Music Week that the first ‘three-strikes’ letters warning consumers to stop illegally downloading are on course to be sent out in Q1 2014. The music industry is waiting
patiently for OFCOM’s new Initial Obligations Code of Practice proposal, which will set out a concrete timetable for action – and it looks like a two-year wait is about right. “We’re be putting [the
other across no man’s land,” says the MMF’s Jon Webster. “What we need is both sides to discuss how to promote the burgeoning direct artist/fan relationship and reward all relevant parties.” Little wonder the issue is shrouded in anger and
impatience: 95% of citizens who have received a first- time warning letter through France’s DEA equivalent, Hadopi, have subsequently stayed away from file- sharing sites. “The action from UK ISPs has been really
disappointing,” says Universal’s Smernicki. “It almost feels like a willful disregard for the concept of copyright and artists being properly paid. It’s interesting: BT tell us that music’s not important to its customers, and yet their latest broadband TV ad is all about music, and they’re sponsoring the music events at the Olympics. “I believe an open and free internet can exist
alongside artists being properly paid for their work – but even to have that conversation without being labelled the devil by some people is hard.” Open rights groups argue than the DEA’s plans
are tantamount to dunderheaded ‘censorship’ – and the trade admits that when it comes to being seen as the foolish bogey man, it hasn’t always made things easy for itself. First there was the Napster debacle: common
trade logic suggests that in-fighting amongst rights- holders presented a window of opportunity for the unlicensed service to dominate – and teach a generation that illegal downloading was AOK. Then, in the first half-decade of the Noughties,
the BPI and record labels began directly attempting to sue the parents of illegal downloaders. It was not, in hindsight, the smartest PR play – nor the only heavy-handed misstep the industry has made in the eyes of Joe Bloggs. Adrian Pope, MD of digital and business
development at PIAS lays out where he believes the music industry went awry: “Fear and a reticence to license in the early days. Obsessions with DRM. Not speaking to Government cohesively. Poor media and PR management. Restrictive commercial terms. Attacking individual consumer behavior… The list is long but not applicable to everyone and thankfully in the past.” Beggars group director of strategy Simon Wheeler
agrees: “The music industry has got much better at both lobbying and interacting with Government over the past few years. UK Music has been key in speaking as one to the Government on behalf of the industry.”
The BPI’s Geoff Taylor responds: “Media
commentators will say that the music industry was too slow to respond to piracy. It’s true to say that, internationally, it took the music and tech industries too long to develop really attractive and easy-to-use services for consumers. But many over-simplify the debate by saying we should ‘simply’ have licensed Napster and Kazaa. That ignores the fact that those services were totally unwilling to pay for content. “We have said for a long time that piracy can
only be dealt with if you have great legal services, you educate consumers about what is right and wrong, and there are meaningful deterrents for illegal behaviour, backed by the State. Increasingly there is recognition that all of these three elements need to be in place simultaneously to deal successfully with the piracy challenge.” The legacy of Napster’s rise has muddied the
waters on what is “right and wrong” in the eyes of young music fans – something the industry must now work to reverse with convenient legal services. “We talk about educating consumers but do
little,” says Webster. “We barely know what a legal site is so how can we expect consumers to? For starters, we need to provide a mechanism for under 18’s without credit cards to access music legally.” UK Music has the unenviable task of speaking
for the industry with one voice – and has pulled together the views of different industry sectors over piracy for four years. CEO Jo Dipple comments: “At this stage, I think the concept of ‘fighting’ against ‘piracy’ is unhelpful. The industry’s goal and energies are rightly focused on growing the legal digital market and licensing new services. Tackling copyright infringement is simply part of this process. “That’s where the DEA should pay dividends –
we want to send out educational letters that have a positive impact. To that end we should try very hard to make the initial letters as informative and encouraging as possible to give consumers more choices to turn to legal sites.” PIAS’s Pope is equally upbeat: “It’s important to
learn from the past, look forward and continue to take a positive rather than defensive approach - something the business has been doing for some time now.” This optimism is fuelled by a couple of key recent
milestones: the UK can boast of more licensed digital music services than any other country – 77 at last count. And as recently revealed by the BPI, digital music revenues (55%) overtook their physical counterparts in the first three months of 2012, as
timetable] out at the end of this month,” an OFCOM spokesperson confirmed to Music Week. “We’re dotting the ‘i’s and crossing the ‘t’s as we speak.” When asked if the 2014 date
was accurate, the rep replied: “That fits pretty well with the stages we have to go through. We’ll be consulting [with stakeholders] pretty soon, but only for a fairly short period as we’ve already consulted on this once before – we’re consulting on changes rather than initial substance of the Code. “[The Code] will then go to the
European Commission who might propose changes, and then it will be laid in Parliament.” At this stage, the ISPs will be
asked to put systems and infrastructure in place to send out letters to consumers, whilst OFCOM will appoint an appeals body to field complaints from customers.
But with the previous UK
Government aiming for a 70% reduction in piracy as a result of the DEA, how can OFCOM accurately monitor any change in illegal downloaders’ activity? “Once letters are sent out, we’re
planning to report to the Secretary of State every three months - and that will include information on levels of infringement,” said OFCOM’s rep. “We’ll measure that via a
number of things. We’re working on a consumer survey to ask people what they’re doing online – but obviously that won’t be sufficient in itself. We’ll also be scanning file-sharing networks ourselves to cover data and the volumes of illegal files. And we will be inviting third-party reports on levels of infringements, including data from the copyright owners in some cases - although we’d only consider those if we thought [their numbers] were robust.” When asked if there was any
chance letters may be sent to consumers as early as 2013, OFCOM’s spokesperson replied: “No. If you add up the length of time each of those steps take, that won’t happen. And they have to take place serially - for instance, the ISPs wouldn’t be expected to commit the money to the back-end systems until the Code is law, but that won’t happen until we’ve got through Brussels.”
the market grew year-on-year by over 2%. “A young music fan’s first experience of digital
“Like getting your first bank account, if getting the music you love is easier through legal services, you’ll use them for the rest of your life.” JO DIPPLE, UK MUSIC
music should be and could be via a digital service – 7digital or iTunes or We7 or MixCloud or Spotify – not the Pirate Bay,” adds Dipple. “Like getting your first bank account, if getting the
music you love is easier through legal services, you will probably continue to use legal services for the rest of your life.” The industry broadly seems to agree that the key
to fighting piracy – and ensuring artists get a fair deal from consumption of their content – relies on the growing attractiveness and convenience of legal music services, whilst helping ensure the DEA passes quickly and without incident. But the question of striking the right balance of
counter-piracy measures – and concentrating unified efforts against the most effective foes - is met by less consensus. Meanwhile, reports are emerging that Kim
Dotcom’s case may never reach trial due to police administration blunders. Now bailed, he has vowed to fight for his assets and take advantage of errors made when authorities served his criminal papers. The trade’s piracy enemies may be easily
lampooned; but as Napster showed all those years ago, they are no fools – and will thrive on any disunity or ineptitude amongst their rights-holding adversaries.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60