Get It Right - Safeguarding the UK's Creative Industries

Creative industries receive Government backing to launch multi-million pound national education and TV advertising campaign that promotes the value of creativity and urges consumers to keep it #genuine

An advertising and consumer engagement campaign to promote a new education initiative called Get it Right from a Genuine Site launches this weekend.  Its aim is to encourage respect for the value of creativity in the UK and to boost consumer awareness and use of the wide range of legal sources of content available to them.

Get it Right from a Genuine Site – @getitright – represents a completely fresh approach to the issue of copyright infringement, and seeks to engage with younger consumers in particular in ways that are far more relevant to them.  It marks the first time that content creators from the worlds of film and TV and music have, with the support of government as well as trades unions, retailers and other creative sectors including games, books, media and sports, come together with Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to promote the value of creativity and to reduce online copyright infringement.

Contributing almost £77 billion to the UK economy and promoting a dynamic vision of Britain around the world, it’s vital that the creative industries and their highly skilled 1.7 million workforce are valued and protected from copyright infringement so that even more can be invested in producing cutting-edge, original content for fans to enjoy.

The @getitright education campaign is adopting a different tone and approach to the anti-piracy drives of previous years that sought to dissuade infringing behaviour through aggressive messaging and the threat of sanctions alone.  Instead, it aims to open the eyes of consumers who still access content from non-genuine sites to the positive impact of supporting UK creativity by inspiring and encouraging them to make the right choice – to see themselves in effect as investors in a creative process that will, with their full support, deliver even more of the content they love. 

Spearheaded by a prime TV spot on ITV during Sunday night’s X Factor on October 25, the ads feature one character who chooses to use his device to access genuine content mirrored by another who does so from dodgy sites.  The ad then shows how the cinemas, music outlets and games stores  around the first character expand and flourish, filling both the physical and digital worlds with creativity and extended choice, while the environment that surrounds the other becomes grey, dull and devoid of the stuff we love.  Ads using the same creative treatment will also run online, across digital OOH, in print, on radio and in cinemas over the coming weeks and months.

Alongside the standout animated TV advertising film, @getitright has launched a multi-city Street Art project to resonate with a new generation of young consumers that are passionate about the quality and authenticity of content.   The Street Art project kicked-off in Birmingham last week with the unveiling of a six storey high artwork spray painted on the iconic Custard Factory; home to the city’s creative quarter.  It represents the single biggest multi-city street art project to date in the UK. The 18 metre mural features hometown creative heavyweights including rapper, producer and musician Mike Skinner of The Streets, Academy Award Nominated actress for the Theory of Everything, Felicity Jones, up and coming rapper, singer and producer Lady Leshurr and iconic poet Benjamin Zephaniah.  Street art murals are now planned for Liverpool, Cardiff, Bournemouth and Edinburgh in the coming weeks, with other sites potentially following.

Copyright is the bedrock of the creative industries, which are worth £76.9 billion to the UK economy. From cutting-edge video games to box-office smashes, the continuing success and availability of our creative industries relies on customers making the right choice to access content legally.  I am delighted that rights holders and internet companies have come together under the banner of Creative Content UK to educate consumers about both the need to properly reward creativity, and the threat that online piracy poses.

We want people to understand the vital importance of supporting the films, TV, music, games, books, magazines and sports they love, and the fact that by doing so they are not only helping to create more of it for everyone to enjoy but are investing in the development of new artists and ideas. Our goal is to encourage everyone to access content from genuine services rather than dodgy sites.

We deliberately chose Street Art to help tell our story and raise awareness of our campaign. It allows us to showcase some of the most creative talents in the UK right now to the nation and particularly inspire young people to think big when it comes to their own creative ambitions. It’s the perfect creative accompaniment to our stand out advertising campaign.

The Government is committed to tackling online copyright infringement and supporting the creative industries that bring so much to the UK’s economy and culture. We want the UK to be the most innovative country to do business and a thriving creative industry plays a part in that.  The Creative Content UK education campaign that the government is funding as part of this work. ‘Get It Right from a Genuine Site’ shows that online piracy, including illegally downloading music or streaming films, has a real impact on the creative industries and that simple choices about where you get content make a big difference.

Creativity is in Britain’s DNA.  This passion means our creative industries are now worth the best part of £80 billion to the UK economy and help to promote a dynamic vision of the UK around the world.  It’s vital that we protect and promote the fantastic entertainment and media content that we produce, so we can continue to develop more of it for fans to enjoy.  I am delighted to add my backing to Creative Content UK’s ‘Get it Right from a Genuine Site’ education campaign, which aims to encourage consumers to use the vast range of legal digital services now available that give value back to the people that make the content they love.

The campaign will also operate live online through a dedicated website and social channels. These platforms provide consumers with information about the Get it Right from a Genuine Site campaign as well as links to legal sources of content, both free and paid.

The Get it Right from a Genuine Site education programme is part of the Creative Content UK initiative, a ground-breaking partnership between content creators and the UK’s four main Internet Service Providers (ISPs) BT, Sky, Talk Talk and Virgin Media, together with an education campaign part-funded by the government, aimed at helping reduce online copyright infringement. The initiative also includes a subscriber alerts programme, to follow after the education campaign launch, which will notify bill-payers if illegal content is being shared with other users through their internet connection.

Once the alert components launch, the campaign website will also provide resources for consumers who want to understand why they received an alert and what they can do to make sure their account does not infringe copyright again.

The  education campaign is operating in a context where there is no one silver bullet fix to the issues of copyright infringement, with site blockings, action to reduce advertising on illegal sites and pressure on search engines to promote legal sites over infringing ones in their search results all playing an effective part in the overall approach.

Those interested in finding out more about the campaign can visit:  www.getitrightfromagenuinesite.org

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For further information contact:

David Parke, Weber Shandwick, 020 7067 0351
GetItRight@webershandwick.com

NOTES TO EDITORS

Supporting quotes for Birmingham street art project:

Benjamin Zephaniah, poet, writer and musician said of the campaign “During the industrial revolution Birmingham was the centre of British creativity, this city more or less invented Heavy Metal music; the Handsworth Revolution inspired a movement of British reggae music, and this city was my muse as a young poet. I love what Get it Right from a Genuine Site is doing because it promotes art with a sense of place, and art that is genuinely from the people. Let us celebrate us. They really have got it right.”

Shabana Mahmood, Labour MP for Birmingham Ladywood, said: “We’re delighted to be part of a project that recognises the outstanding creativity which flows through our city. Creativity is an integral part of our local identity and we’re excited to see how some of the UK’s best home-grown artistic talent have interpreted our rich cultural heritage in the heart of Birmingham’s creative hub.”

Piers Read, Managing Director, Custard Factory said: “Digbeth sits at the heart of creativity in the UK and Custard Factory is certainly becoming the Centre of the Universe for many creative and digital businesses. We are honoured to have this artwork produced her at Custard Factory and it is a privilege to have such fantastic local artists working here.”

About Get it Right from a Genuine Site

Get it Right from a Genuine Site is an initiative working to promote increased awareness and respect of the value of the UK’s creative industries.

We want to encourage consumers to support the creative industries by accessing the creativity that they love from legitimate online sources, as well as making people aware of the growing number of legitimate online content services.

The campaign champions the many different sides of the UK’s creative industries, including music, television, film, book and magazine publishing, sports, gaming and photography.

Visit www.getitrightfromagenuinesite.org for more information.

About PRS for Music

PRS for Music is a world-leading music collective management organisation representing the rights of more than 165,000 talented songwriters, composers and music publishers around the globe. Headquartered in the UK, it works diligently on behalf of its members to grow and protect the value of their rights. With a focus on innovation and integrity, PRS for Music is redefining the global standard for music royalties to ensure creators are paid whenever their musical compositions and songs are streamed, downloaded, broadcast, performed and played in public. In 2022, PRS for Music collected £964m and paid out £836.2m in royalties. prsformusic.com