British Music Rights today welcomed the publication of the Culture Select Committee’s report on new media and the creative industries, and called for a new approach to online music piracy if the creative industries are not to be damaged by digital technology.

The report by the House of Commons Select Committee on Culture, Media and Sport made a number of recommendations aimed at improving the way the creative industries can benefit from the emergence of new technology, stating: ‘Creators are entitled to demand payment for their product and the success of the creative industries depends on their ability to do so.’

BMR’s call for a new approach to piracy would be based on a much greater emphasis on creating licensing systems between music creators, internet service providers and mobile phone companies to ensure creators receive the value of the work they create.

Commenting on the publication of the report, British Music Rights Chief Executive Emma Pike said: ‘The committee clearly grasped the scale of the challenge for the creative industries that arises from advances in digital technology. The time has come however for a change of emphasis in how government and the music sector tackles piracy – tougher penalties for those who infringe copyright are only part of the answer; instead, we need to be able to demonstrate the upside of licensing systems for all involved.’

In its other conclusions and recommendations, the New Media and the Creative Industries report suggested that the use of Digital Rights Management software for the purposes of copy protection had ‘damaged consumer trust’ and had sometimes provided ‘a very poor deal’ for consumers. Commenting on this, Pike said: ‘DRMs are evolving and certainly mistakes have been made. But the truth is that DRMs are useful as an information management tool and as a way of making sure that payments get to the creators that are owed them – they are part of the solution in seeking ways to license and legitimise music usage online.

‘We believe that licensing the flow of digital content, through partnerships with internet service providers and other technology partners, offers the best hope of preserving the UK’s strong pool of creative talent, reversing the decline of the music industry, and meeting rising consumer demands and expectations for accessing creative content.’

The committee found that on the issue of private copying – for example recording CDs onto a digital device such as an iPod - there was a strong case for a limited exception in law that allowed people to do this but did not permit them to benefit by further distributing copyright material which they did not own. BMR recognises the logic behind this but Pike said: ‘The important thing is that there needs to be a major public awareness campaign about the limits of the new exception. The risk, that people will simply consider this a “green light” for copying, is plain to see and if the Government insists on going down this route, it must accept responsibility for raising awareness of what is and is not permitted under the new law.’

Notes

• British Music Rights (BMR) is an umbrella organisation that represents the interests of nearly 50,000 composers, songwriters and music publishers and their collecting societies, the MCPS and PRS, and is a leading industry voice in raising awareness of the value of music to the British economy, culture and society.
• The Culture Media and Sport Select Committee issued its report New Media and the Creative Industries today, Wednesday 16 May 2007. It followed an 18-month inquiry by the committee, to which British Music Rights submitted written evidence.

For further information, please contact British Music Rights on 020 7306 4446 or email: britishmusic@bmr.org.