2. Overview
Major music companies are trying to tackle the issue of
piracy in a number of ways…
Consumer education on copyright and the value of music
Working with law enforcement agencies to tackle online
piracy
Litigation against online pirate services
Engaging with policymakers and legislators worldwide to
create an environment in which the music sector can grow
3. Smart Phones and Apps
The industry is working with online stores to remove
infringing apps and to ensure that apps cannot access illegal
websites.
The suggestion of mobile censorship comes alongside the
news that mobile applications have become the most widely-
used source of free music downloads.
Approximately 27 million people in the U.S. have used
mobile apps to get one song or more in the past year, and
much of this activity has been illegal.
In the UK, over 30 websites are blocked by ISPs.
4. Twitter
Twitter may carry this out in partnership with Beats
Music, SoundCloud and Vevo.
The music Twitter users will be able to get directly
through any new service will be limited, since the
company has not licensed major record label catalogs.
5. Technology
Several major music labels have been experimenting
with new technology that will prevent the making of
digital copies of audio CDs using a CD-ROM drive.
SafeAudio – developed by the company TTR
technology – is a theft blocking measure that work by
encoding errors into digital that is being pressed into
the CD in music factories.
6. Cost
On iTunes singles can range in price from completely
free to £0.99
Some people suggest that by lowering the price then
more people would legally download however if people
can still download for free than some people will still
find this the better option.
Some artists such as Coldplay are offering free tracks if
you pre-order the album to entice people to make a
purchase.
7. Is it still an issue?
Peer traffic is now below 10%, down from 31% five
years ago and 60% eleven years ago
People don’t pirate songs anymore because they don’t
need to. They can get whatever they want for free
online via YouTube or a streaming service like Spotify.
Some suggest that the huge drops in profit are down to
the change from a high-margin (album) to a low margin
(singles) product than from piracy.
