Music Ally

The BPI has tabled amendments to the UK government’s Digital Economy bill that would introduce US-style DMCA takedown rights, but with no ’safe harbour’ clause, according to The Register. It’s seen documents covering the introduction of a new clause, Section 97B, which it says “would be granted when an ISP had refused to take down infringing material”.

The measures would replace the current bill’s Clause 17, and the BPI has said in a statement: “In light of the ongoing debate on the current draft of Clause 17, we thought it prudent to propose possible alternative approaches, including a straw-man s.97B. However, Clause 17 remains our favoured approach to address forms of online infringement other than P2P filesharing.”

This and other amendments to the bill tabled by supporters of the ISPs are currently being debated in the House of Lords.

2009 has seen the rise of streaming services Spotify and Pandora (and the fall of several of their rivals); governments grappling with anti-piracy legislation; The Pirate Bay trial – and then its tragicomic sale saga; and hundreds of bright-eyed music start-ups and thousands of iPhone apps. And STILL no Yellow Submarine iPod.

We rounded up the key trends from the year for our final Music Ally Report of 2009, and the article is republished below in full. If you’re interested in our service in 2010, with its daily bulletin and fortnightly analytical report, click here for a free trial.

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BPI boss Geoff Taylor has welcomed the British government’s plans to toughen up its anti-piracy provisions, including the temporary suspension of persistent infringers’ broadband connections.

“Assuming there is an election in May, then we believe the bill will be in the Queen’s speech and that it should go through,” he tells the Guardian. “Government realised that if you look at a problem of this scale, the measures it was putting forward were not going to be big enough.”

He also hits back at criticism of the new plans: “Government is not talking about disconnecting anyone, the debate is around temporary suspension of internet connections as a last resort.”

However, despite the BPI’s support, the British government is facing criticism over a report by one of its advisory bodies in May, claiming that there were more than seven million illegal file-sharers in the UK. BBC radio show More or Less has been digging into the origins of this figure, tracing it back to a Juniper Research Jupiter Research report by analyst Mark Mulligan, which was privately commissioned by… the BPI.

It’s also picked over the bones of the report’s calculations, suggesting that the real file-sharers figure may be as low as 3.9 million.

(Story updated to include correct analyst firm name)

The UK’s Department for Business Innovation and Skills has shaken up its post-Digital Britain report plans to combat file-sharing, announcing that it’s looking at possibly suspending the broadband accounts of persistent file-sharers – a measure that wasn’t in the report.

It’s issued an explanatory statement this morning, and extended its existing consultation on illegal file-sharing until the end of September to get the views of ISPs and rightsowners.

“It’s become clear there are widespread concerns that the plans as they stand could delay action, impacting unfairly upon rights holders,” says minister for Digital Britain Stephen Timms. Read its full announcement below, and click here to read the explanatory statement (the link isn’t working at the time of writing, but should be imminently).

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It seems the UK government’s Digital Britain report wasn’t quite final. Reports in the UK press this weekend suggest that the timescale for implementing technical measures against persistent file-sharers may be shortened.

The report set out plans to reduce online piracy by 70% within a year – a murkily-defined target as we’ve explained in a recent Music Ally Report – before implementing measures such as slowing offenders’ connections or blocking piracy sites.

It’s that one-year deadline which may now change: “The target is a reasonable one,” treasury minister Stephen Timms tells the FT. “The concern is if the target isn’t hit, what happens then and how quickly we look at it again.”

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We7 boss Steve Purdham thinks today’s Digital Britain report doesn’t go far enough in protecting Britain’s creative industries from online piracy.

“The Digital Britain report had the opportunity to set an outstanding aspirational agenda and create a memorable turning point in the UK’s digital evolution, but sadly falls short of giving the real focus for significantly enhancing Britain’s competitiveness in the future,” he says.

“Music and other high value content need two things – A strong deterrent and framework to protect the value and investment from piracy so that we can continue to produce world class music in the future – and secondly high profile education to guide people to legal services. The Digital Britain report missed the opportunity to provide the true pathway to protecting our creative industries from ilicit filesharing.”

He also refers to a recent survey by Opinion Matters claiming that 46% of UK music fans don’t understand how to legally consume music, but that 94% would choose a legal music service over an illegal service if it had the same range of music and was easy to use.

“With persistence from businesses like We7 and the rest of the music industry piracy can be made redundant with better, safer and economically viable legal services,” says Purdham.

UK music industry body UK Music was notably less combative than the BPI in its response to today’s Digital Britain report, even if it shared Geoff Taylor’s concern that the initial warning-letters system won’t be effective in fighting piracy.

In fact, UK Music’s statement also thinks the planned technical measures to slow down or cap persistent file-sharers’ internet connections won’t be enough to reduce illegal file-sharing by 70-80% within 2-3 years, as the government hopes.

“We would like to see action now,” says UK Music’s Feargal Sharkey. “Over the past 12 months, UK music companies have exceeded themselves in terms of innovation and experimentation, offering unprecedented access and choice to music fans. Yesterday’s announcement by Virgin Media and Universal Music of their all-you-can-eat MP3 service comes on the back of free-to-consumer offerings from Spotify and We7 and the removal of Digital Rights Management from the download market. There are more licensed download services in the UK than any country in Europe. I am certain there will be even more in the coming weeks, months and years.”

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BPI boss Geoff Taylor is not impressed with the UK government’s Digital Britain report, which was issued this afternoon. Although he welcomed the prospect of new laws forcing ISPs to reduce file-sharing, he slammed the government’s decision not to implement a three strikes regime to cut off persistent file-sharers, and to instead shift the burden back to rights-owners to sue individual infringers.

“Evidence shows that the Government’s ‘write and then sue’ approach won’t work,” says Taylor. “And Government appears to be anticipating its failure by lining up backstop powers for Ofcom to introduce technical measures later. This digital dithering puts thousands of jobs at risk in a creative sector that the government recognises as the driver of the digital economy.”

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The UK government has now issued its final Digital Britain report, alongside a speech in the House of Commons by culture secretary Ben Bradshaw. The main part of interest for the music industry is the ‘Creative Industries in the Digital World’ section. Here’s the main points:

- Piracy is a serious offence, says the government, and it’s looking for a reduction “of the order of 70-80% in the incidence of unlawful file-sharing”.

- It stresses the importance of offering legal business models that “give the consumer or the fan highly affordable and convenient content”, as well as education for consumers and parents about the “dos and don’ts” of copyright law.

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It’s Tuesday. It’s sunny outside. So I’m holed up in a room watching a House of Commons speech on the BBC iPlayer. Why? Because culture secretary Ben Bradshaw is going to be unveiling the UK government’s Digital Britain report at 3.30pm. Stick around for all the details.

3.29: It’s the tail-end of a justice debate, so just a primer on what we’re expecting. The report covers a wide range of digital and broadcasting issues, but two are of particular focus for the music industry: online piracy, and broadband access.

On the former, we’re expecting the announcement of a Digital Rights agency to tackle internet piracy, working with ISPs and rights-owners. ISPs may have new responsibilities to warn and/or punish persistent file-sharers, but the government is expected to stop short of a three-strikes policy to actually cut their internet access off.

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