Bpi's Anti Piracy Unit example essay topic

The British phonographic Industry; Introduction and historical development The British Phonographic Industry (BPI) was launched in 1972, although was formally incorporated in 1973, and has since been representing the interests of British record companies. The industry started off with just five members and its principle aim was to fight the growing problem of music piracy. Since then, the BPI now represents 267 record companies to date ranging from small independent labels, these include 2, Independiente and Mushroom, to multi-national corporations such as BMG and EMI. Everyone who works for the BPI has one aim in common: to help create an environment in which the British music business can thrive and remain a world leader (BPI Handbook).

To achieve this, the BPI's work has been concentrated in four main areas. Firstly, to fight against music piracy on a commercial scale. Secondly to gain Rights' negotiation and the provision of legal expertise to lobby government on behalf of the member record companies. The BPI also considers promoting the music industry to the media, politicians and the public.

Lastly the BPI takes note and research and publication of key statistics on the value of the UK record business. Music piracy The act of music piracy has been abusing the main assets of BPI members along with their rights for decades, and is now more serious than ever. The BPI's Anti-Piracy Unit is fighting for these rights and taking action on their behalf to reduce this act. Currently, one in three recordings is a pirate copy and this results in costing the UK music industry millions of pounds each year. Within the UK, the BPI face threats from the growth of the CD-recordable disc highly sophisticated counterfeit CDs from Eastern Europe, and Online Piracy. Napster, which has been the centre of controversy for many months, is a type of software that allows users to share the MP 3 libraries with each other no matter where they are located.

This resulted in anyone with the Internet to download any song they wished, free of charge. This meant artists; songwriters etc are being exploited and not getting paid for it. The BPI's Anti-Piracy Unit has recently made an agreement between itself and the PPL to cover the repertoire of all PPL members. The BPI also works together with both the Police and Trading Standard Officers, as well as international bodies like the IFP I so that through investigations will lead to catching these criminals.

Recently the BPI's clamp down on music piracy scored a significant victory when Europe's "most notorious" music pirate, Ted Smith, was sent down for roughly two years. Smith had been operating from a chicken shed in Essex where 60 000 CD's and 200 000 inlay cards were seized. (Music Week 3 Nov 2001). Another Essex piracy ringleader has been imprisoned for two years thanks to the joint effort of BPI members, Trading Standards and Essex County Council for "conspiracy to defraud". (web 24 Nov 2001) The BPI takes great importance in fighting to protect its member's rights; hence secure legal framework is vital.

A central part of the work of the BPI's legal department is to ensure that relevant legislation meet the needs of the recording industry. Legal expertise is given not only to the Anti-Piracy Unit, but the BPI also lobby both European and UK governments to ensure the rights of their members. The issues are wide ranging, from problems such as piracy to copyright legislation are dealt with. Affiliated companies such as the Brit Awards Limited and the British Record Industry Trust are provided with the industries legal advice. The BPI also negotiates legal agreements on behalf of members with other bodies such as the Music Union and MCPS, who support the work of individual members. For the BPI to ensure the promotion of its success as a thriving and influential trade body, it has perceived involvement in many promotional schemes.

These include the BPI's involvement in international trade fairs on behalf of its members, Music Industry Trust Dinners and regular seminars on topical music issues. There are also more popular events such as Radio One's Live free educational talks to the world Famous Brit Awards. Of these events, many of them provide an educational and charitable function as well as a promotional role for the industry. The Brit Awards is a charity event and has raised over 1.5 million for the Brit Trust, a charitable society, which donate to charities like the Nord off Robbins Music Therapy, The Princes Trust, Drug scope and the Brit School for Performing Arts and Technology to name a few.

The Brit school has brought many benefits to members through the creation of up and coming talent and a well-trained work force. BPI's regular newsletter, Insight, and the more recently improved BPI website keep membership informed on recent news and success within the industry. The BPI is known for dealing with enquires from journalists and other bodies and for that reason has established itself as the centre body for media comment on the music business. The Brit Awards The Brit Awards are one of the industry's most important award shows of the year. It is a time when artists are recognised and awarded for their hard work and devotion to their music, while at the same time spectacular stage shows from artists are entertaining everyone from the audience at the awards to the individual sitting at home watching it on television. The money rose for the Brit Trust aim to develop projects related to the record industry such as education and music therapy.

The Trust, in return, gives its support in time, effort and money, in helping handicapped children and the Brits Performing Arts and Technology School. The voting academy for the Brit Awards consists of over one thousand people. There is a wide range of individuals from within the music industry from record companies to retailers, radio DJ's to record producers. The public votes four awards, those being Best British Video, Best British Single, Best British Newcomer and Best British Pop Act. The Brit School For Performing Arts & Technology The BPI sees a commitment to discover and develop new talent throughout the country to continue the success of this creative industry. This commitment has been fulfilled through funding to the Brit School in Croydon, South London that was opened in 1991.

It is a non fee-paying school and is a joint initiative of the Brit Trust and the Department for Education and Employment. Its 700 students aged 14-19 gain grounding in the performing arts, technological skills and business management, as well as core National Curriculum Subjects. Several Brit School graduates have joined chart-topping bands such as Damage and Another Level while others have gained positions at record label and artist management companies. The BPI's educational and training programme has developed through seminars and events such as One Live in Birmingham and through established workshops in conjunction with PPL, PRS, MCPS and AIM. Free educational road shows in Glasgow. Liverpool and Bristol included interviews given by the likes of Pete Waterman and Paul Conroy as well as dealing with question and answer sessions.

The BPI present a host of facts and figures relating to what is going on in the business at the time. Every quarter statistics are published on the latest industry results and a yearly statistical handbook is compiled. The BPI is well known for its certificates of gold, silver and platinum awards to measure the performance of individual record based on sales to the trade each week. This provides the artist / record label with important recognition. The Official UK Charts Company Limited administers and markets the official chart and is a joint venture between BARD and BPI. The BARD / BPI Liaison Committee acts as a channel for communication and discussion between the two organisations on a wide-ranging selection of topics.

The aim of the Committee is to enable BARD and the BPI to work closely together environment improve and grow the market for pre-recorded music to mutual benefit. Over 5 600 retailers supply sales data that allow the number of record bought to be monitored. At current, an artist has to sell so many records to achieve an award. Platinum; album: 300 000 single: 600 000 Gold; album: 100 000 single: 400 000 Silver; album: 60 000 single: 200 000 The BPI also has a library that hosts an enormous amount of information on the music industry and can be used by students, members and journalists alike.

This information is slowly being processed onto the official BPI website and it gives a definitive guide to the facts of what's happening in the music business. Current issues The BPI has three main current issues that it is facing at the moment. Firstly, the fight against piracy. A new liaison committee involving representatives of PPL, MU, PARA, AURA and BARD have provided a good forum to explain the work and priorities of the Anti-Piracy Unit during the course of 2000/1. This contemporary issue has been discussed in more detail under the heading title: Music Piracy. Secondly the issue of Rights'- Intellectual property and how copyright protection for sound recordings need to be maintained in the online environment.

In particular this means effective implementation of the EC copyright Directive within the UK throughout 2002. Lastly the industry which to continue protection in the online worlds and promote a legislative framework which encourages investment in new technology and encryption services to provide choice, security and trust among consumers of music services in the digital / online environment. After a long battle, Napster has finally been shut down until next year when it will be setting up a new membership service to its users. Another recent and controversial development is the copy-protected CD. The main problem with copy-protected CDs is that no matter what scheme is used to protect them, there will always be players that will not be able to play them. The copy-protected CD works by introducing digital distortion into a file.

This is inaudible when a CD is played through an ordinary CD player, but when a song is copied into digital format on a PC's hard drive, the distortion shows up as "clicks and pops" in the music. In conclusion, my research into the BPI has provided me with a host of information on what the industry's main aims and functions are and how it continues to excel at being one of the most influential and most important UK trade bodies of our time in the music industry. I believe that BPI's work with other industry organisations helps to strengthen its position in the music business while also gaining valuable information and cracking down on problems such as music piracy. The BPI shall continue to grow and benefit record companies for years to come.