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UK ISPs agree

to work with the music industry to crack down on file sharing The Academy welcomes the news that six of the UK’s largest internet service providers have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the UK’s record labels. They aim to explore together ways in which they can tackle the difficult issue of online music piracy and build new business models to properly monetise music in the digital environment.

In a defining moment in the efforts to reduce illegal downloads Virgin Media, SKY, BT, Talk Talk, Tiscali and Orange have all signed up to the MOU with the BPI, the Department of Business Enterprise & Regulatory Reform (BERR) and a number of film studios.

The objectives of the MOU include an education campaign to better inform the consumer about the illegality of file sharing; to make material legally available online in more user friendly formats; and to create a self regulatory environment with the involvement of Ofcom

Chris Green, CEO of The British Academy of composers and songwriters comments:

“The signing of the MOU represents a huge step forward for the whole of the music industry. Currently only 1 in 20 downloads are being paid for and writers are justifiably concerned that they are receiving hardly any income from on-line sales which are steadily replacing cd sales. The vast majority of composers and songwriters are not high earners and depend on every bit of income they can gather from their work to continue to write music and especially to develop their craft and to write music of lasting quality. The UK is equally dependent on the continuing flow of how quality music to sustain the wider music industry which is a major contributor to the nation’s prosperity.”