Music Industry Cracks Down On Piracy
New global network will detect and act against unauthorised manufacturers and distributors
The music industry is stepping up its efforts to crack down on piracy by creating a global anti-piracy network responsible for detecting and taking action against the manufacturers and distributors of unauthorised recordings. The network will be run from the London headquarters of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), the lobbying body representing the worlds record companies.
It will be led by the IFPIs first anti-piracy director, to be appointed within the next few weeks to spearhead a team of regional directors. Each of these will liaise with national trade associations to co-ordinate activities within their regions.
Nic Garnett, director of the IFPI, envisaged appointing regional directors for Asia, Latin America, western Europe and eastern Europe, excluding Russia and other former Soviet states, where piracy is so rife that a dedicated regional director is required.
Anti-piracy activities in North America would continue to be dealt with by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the trade body which represents the US record industry, and its Canadian counterpart.
Piracy has long been regarded as one of the main difficulties facing the worlds record companies. But over the past year the problem has worsened as sales of unauthorised recordings have risen sharply.
Until recently, piracy tended to be restricted to emerging markets in Asia and Latin America but is now increasing in established music markets such as North America and western Europe, where the record companies had previously thought the problem under control.
One reason for the increase is the falling price of compact disc production equipment. It now costs roughly 500,000 ($817,000) to kit out a factory capable of manufacturing 3 million-4 million discs a year, according to Garnett, compared with about 1 million a year ago.
The availability of cheaper equipment has intensified the financial pressure on previously legitimate production plants, some of which have started selling pirated discs in desperation.The RIAA seized over 200,000 illegal compact discs in the US in 1996, against just over 25,000 the previous year.
Garnett estimates that, on a worldwide basis, piracy cost the industry roughly $2 billion worldwide last year, against legitimate retail sales of $40 billion. Record executives discussed the piracy issue in Rome this spring, when they decided to finance creation of the IFPIs proposed anti-piracy network. Garnett said the network should enable the industry to be more rigorous in detecting piracy, and more aggressive at lobbying for copyright protection. One priority will be to check whether apparently legitimate production plants are selling unauthorised recordings on the side.