The Great Escape 2012 kicked off in Brighton this morning with a PRS for Music hosted discussion about music creators, internet piracy and copyright.
The Guardian newspaper’s Helienne Lindvall chaired a panel of three industry experts; Andrew Orlowski from leading technology publication The Register, Velocity Communications’ Andy Saunders and Peter Bradwell from Open Rights Group.
Lindvall noted that it had been an abysmal last six months for the music industry in terms of public relations and copyright legislation. Saunders, who has worked with publishers, artists, managers and labels for 30 years, agreed that the record industry was suffering, but not the whole music industry.
He said that the recorded music industry needs to win back the ‘hearts and minds’ of consumers and that the major record labels have not found a way to get their message across to the public about internet piracy and copyright.
‘In the 80s and 90s they charged £15 to £20 for a CD just because they could. Consumers are not very sympathetic to the labels. And recorded music isn’t central to the equation any more; there are sync, performance revenues for creators and more, It’s a very different playing field now,’ he explained.
Meanwhile Orlowski said that while he didn’t think the music industry was losing the PR battle, it wasn’t winning either. ‘What this is all about is who captures the value of recorded music. Currently we pay £20 a month for broadband but everything else is free,’ he said.
The panel then discussed the role internet service providers (ISPs) play in copyright infringement, and Saunders argued it was up to those companies to do more. ‘The will has got to be there with the ISPs to stop illegal downloading. For example, they can stop child pornography. But the behaviour of the ISPs over pirated music has been disgraceful. They have so many other interests other than the music business and creators. It’s bullshit what’s said about the human rights issue of restricting online piracy, it’s just that the will isn’t there.’
‘I don’t think web pages should be cut off from people, though,’ countered Orlowski. ‘A warning should appear from ISPs to say, “We are watching you and this is illegal”. If you can’t assert ownership of data there is absolutely no privacy on the internet.’
Discussion turned to Open Rights Group, and Bradshaw said that one of the issues with internet piracy and copyright legislation at the moment is that the idea of a dichotomy between interested parties just isn’t true. In fact, the polarisation of interested parties, which happens in the media, is not helping the issue.
‘I don’t think we’re really that polarised. It’s just that often, in the discussions behind the scenes, the wrong people are there. It’s often trade bodies and companies that say they represent creators, but not the creators themselves. We need to hear more about what the creators think.’
However, on the whole, the panel agreed that legislation needed to protect creators’ rights, allowing them to get paid for their work, and that consumers needed to understand the issues at play in order to back copyright protection.
The Guardian newspaper’s Helienne Lindvall chaired a panel of three industry experts; Andrew Orlowski from leading technology publication The Register, Velocity Communications’ Andy Saunders and Peter Bradwell from Open Rights Group.
Lindvall noted that it had been an abysmal last six months for the music industry in terms of public relations and copyright legislation. Saunders, who has worked with publishers, artists, managers and labels for 30 years, agreed that the record industry was suffering, but not the whole music industry.
He said that the recorded music industry needs to win back the ‘hearts and minds’ of consumers and that the major record labels have not found a way to get their message across to the public about internet piracy and copyright.
‘In the 80s and 90s they charged £15 to £20 for a CD just because they could. Consumers are not very sympathetic to the labels. And recorded music isn’t central to the equation any more; there are sync, performance revenues for creators and more, It’s a very different playing field now,’ he explained.
Meanwhile Orlowski said that while he didn’t think the music industry was losing the PR battle, it wasn’t winning either. ‘What this is all about is who captures the value of recorded music. Currently we pay £20 a month for broadband but everything else is free,’ he said.
The panel then discussed the role internet service providers (ISPs) play in copyright infringement, and Saunders argued it was up to those companies to do more. ‘The will has got to be there with the ISPs to stop illegal downloading. For example, they can stop child pornography. But the behaviour of the ISPs over pirated music has been disgraceful. They have so many other interests other than the music business and creators. It’s bullshit what’s said about the human rights issue of restricting online piracy, it’s just that the will isn’t there.’
‘I don’t think web pages should be cut off from people, though,’ countered Orlowski. ‘A warning should appear from ISPs to say, “We are watching you and this is illegal”. If you can’t assert ownership of data there is absolutely no privacy on the internet.’
Discussion turned to Open Rights Group, and Bradshaw said that one of the issues with internet piracy and copyright legislation at the moment is that the idea of a dichotomy between interested parties just isn’t true. In fact, the polarisation of interested parties, which happens in the media, is not helping the issue.
‘I don’t think we’re really that polarised. It’s just that often, in the discussions behind the scenes, the wrong people are there. It’s often trade bodies and companies that say they represent creators, but not the creators themselves. We need to hear more about what the creators think.’
However, on the whole, the panel agreed that legislation needed to protect creators’ rights, allowing them to get paid for their work, and that consumers needed to understand the issues at play in order to back copyright protection.
