Music piracy - archive for February 2007

Music piracy ('muziekpiraterij' in dutch) is a very complex phenomenon to comprehend. These pages wishes to address all of you who are interested in music piracy in a broad sense. You'll find articles related to music and video piracy (with special attention to articles from Belgium and the Netherlands).

music piracy rss feed Receive updates instantly with the RSS Feed
http://www.nex.be/music/piracy/rss/


Archive

Site offers free, legal music for students

Ruckus Network, a company that boasts a collection of more than 2.5 million digital music files, began offering free and unlimited downloads to anyone with a ".edu" e-mail address Jan. 22, 2007. (...) According to a Feb. 1 article on Podtech.net, major record labels such as Jive Records have authorized Ruckus to offer their music in order to reach college students. The record labels hope this preemptive action will reduce the music piracy that runs rampant on many college campuses.

Date: 2007, February 28 | Source (EN): The Flat Hat

Record store owner charged with piracy

A New Hope record store owner is facing federal charges of selling illegally copied music after investigators from the recording industry claim they found more than 5,000 illegal CDs in his shop.

Date: 2007, February 27 | Source (EN): Phillyburbs.com

IFPI België waarschuwt drie keer meer sites

Vorig jaar verstuurde de Belgische afdeling van IFPI bijna 61.000 verwittigingen naar aanbieders van illegale muziek. Dat is driemaal zoveel als in 2005. Meestal vertrokken de verwittigingen naar zogenaamde cyberlockers, zegt Maeterlinck. Dat zijn sites zoals RapidShare en MegaUpload die surfers de mogelijkheid geven om bestanden te hosten.

Date: 2007, February 22 | Source (NL): Zdnet

Belgische sectoren van de muziek, film en games werken nauwer samen om efficiënter namaak te bestrijden.

Uit het jaarlijkse rapport over muzieknamaak van de federatie van de Belgische muziekproducenten, IFPI Belgium, blijkt dat in 2006 de strijd tegen namaak werd opgevoerd. Er wordt gestreefd naar een efficiënter optreden door nauwer met andere organisaties samen te werken. Er werden in vergelijking met 2005 meer illegale reproducties in digitaal formaat (+ 28,6%) in beslag genomen alsook illegale reproducties op fysieke drager (+74.25%). Niettegenstaande de daling van het aantal Belgische illegale sites die werden vastgesteld en genotificeerd, stuurde IFPI Belgium 3 maal zoveel notificaties in vergelijking met vorig jaar. Ook illegale nieuwsgroepen en aanbiedingen via veilingsites werden in grotere getale genotificeerd.

Date: 2007, February 22 | Source (NL): IFPI

Illegale cd's en dvd's steeds vaker in beslag genomen

De federatie van Belgische muziekproducenten (IFPI) heeft vorig jaar 74,25 procent meer illegale cd's en dvd's in beslag genomen. Ook de onderschepping van illegale mp3's en andere kopijen in digitaal formaat steeg met 28,6 procent. (...) IFPI concentreert zich steeds meer op het internet. Vorig jaar stuurde de federatie meer dan 60.000 verwittigingen naar websites, waardoor 41.905 illegale albums en een honderdtal Vlaamse films en televisieseries werden verwijderd. Op vraag van IFPI Belgium werden in 2006 ook 273 aanbiedingen van de veilingsite eBay gehaald.

Date: 2007, February 22 | Source (NL): Het Laatste Nieuws

AP: Music companies targeting colleges

Cracking down on college students, the music industry is sending thousands more complaints to top universities this school year than it did last year as it targets music illegally downloaded over campus computer networks. A few schools, including Ohio and Purdue universities, already have received more than 1,000 complaints accusing individual students since last fall — significant increases over the past school year. For students who are caught, punishments vary from e-mail warnings to semester-long suspensions from classes.

Date: 2007, February 21 | Source (EN): Cleveland Plain Dealer

Music piracy on the rise on campuses

Music piracy is on the rise on college campuses across the state, the country and the world. People of all ages are caring less whether something is copyrighted, and musicians are making thinner profits. (...) According to The Sacramento Bee, a 2006 study by the University of Richmond Law School found that two-thirds of college students do not caring if music is copyrighted. This makes it pretty difficult for those in the music and motion picture industry to put a stop to the practice (...)

Date: 2007, February 17 | Source (EN): The E Press Sacramento

L.A. 'task force' formed to combat movie, music piracy

"Los Angeles is the creative capital of the nation, and the entertainment industry is the backbone of our economy," Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said in a statement. "Every dollar lost to piracy represents wages lost for the hardworking families that make the Los Angeles entertainment industry the envy of the world." The task force will be comprised of law enforcement, city and county officials, as well as representatives of the entertainment industry, and will make recommendations on how to best fight piracy.

Date: 2007, February 16 | Source (EN): San Jose Mercury News

Educating students about music piracy

The Recording Industry Association of America, infamous for its lawsuits against free music, wants the University to help spread its message that piracy is theft.

Date: 2007, February 16 | Source (EN): University Of Virginia The Cavalier Daily

Helmut Lotti ontvangt award voor totale oeuvre

Helmut Lotti heeft donderdag een award in ontvangst genomen van premier Guy Verhofstadt voor de verkoop van zijn totale oeuvre in binnen- en buitenland. Directe aanleiding is dat er intussen wereldwijd 12,5 miljoen albums van de zanger over de toonbank zijn gegaan.

Date: 2007, February 15 | Source (NL): De Morgen

4 music pirates convicted, fined

At the height of the Carnival Season, the Copyright Organi-sation (COTT) celebrated a major victory in the fight against local music piracy with the arrest and conviction of four persons for selling illegal copies of local music. However, a release from COTT lamented the fact that dozens of criminal matters regarding music piracy, some several years old, are still pending before various Magistrates' Courts throughout the country and in one case, the defendant actually died before the matter involving him could be heard and determined.

Date: 2007, February 12 | Source (EN): Trinidad News

'Old' music's digital comeback

With music downloads outselling CD singles by four to one in the UK and the music charts revamped to include download sales, the digital revolution is having a big impact on the music industry. (...) So from 1 January 2007, every song that is available to download is now allowed to chart.

Date: 2007, February 09 | Source (EN): Bbc

Warner says no to copyright-free music

Warner Music has hit out at Apple CEO Steve Jobs' proposal to get rid of copyright protection on music downloads, claiming it is "without logic or merit". Chairman Edgar Bronfman Jr, said there is no chance Warner is considering dropping Digital Rights Management (DRM) copyright protection measures on its downloads.

Date: 2007, February 09 | Source (EN): Computer Active

Belgisch entertainment groeide in 2006 met 3,5 procent

De meest opvallende groei vertonen de muziekdownloads, die met een stijging van 93,3 procent bijna verdubbeld zijn. Ook tv-reeksen op dvd (+33,1 pct) en spelletjes (+10,1 procent) doen het volgens de cijfers van de Belgische federaties van de muziek-, video- en gameproducenten goed.

Date: 2007, February 08 | Source (NL): De Standaard

EMI mulls sales of unprotected songs

Music label EMI Group is in talks to release a large portion of its music catalog for Web sales without technological protections against piracy that are included in most music bought over the Internet now, sources said Thursday. (...) "The results have been positive," the EMI spokeswoman said, adding, "lack of operability between a proliferating range of devices and hardware and the digital platforms for delivering music is more and more becoming an issue for music consumers and EMI has been engaging with our various partners to find a solution."

Date: 2007, February 08 | Source (EN): Cnet

China shuts 205 websites in crackdown

CHINA, often criticised for failing to tackle rampant illegal downloading of music and films, has closed 205 websites in a crackdown on internet piracy. Officials said that between the end of September and January they had investigated 436 cases, including about 130 at the request of overseas industry associations, and ordered 361 offenders to stop their infringements.

Date: 2007, February 08 | Source (EN): The Australian

Illegale muziekdownloads nemen nog steeds toe

Hoewel steeds meer muziek online verkocht wordt verkiezen veel mensen nog altijd de illegale weg. De snelheid van de groei neemt weliswaar af, zegt een onderzoeker van researchgroep NPD.

Date: 2007, February 07 | Source (NL): Het Laatste Nieuws

Zesduizend dvd's vernietigd in Doornik

De federale politie heeft woensdag zesduizend nagemaakte dvd's vernietigd in Doornik. (...) De vervalser verkocht naar schatting 12.000 schijfjes voor 5 tot 6 euro per stuk. De politie nam zes pc's, stapels dvd-doosjes en verschillende catalogussen in beslag. ,,Het ging om een particulier die bijzonder professioneel te werk ging''

Date: 2007, February 07 | Source (NL): De Standaard

Despite lawsuits, digital music downloads grow

Eric Garland of Web consultants Big Champagne estimates that more than 1 billion digital tracks are illegally traded for free each month. By comparison, Apple Inc.'s iTunes Music Store, which has more than 70 percent of legal digital music sales in the United States, has sold only a bit more than 2 billion songs since its launch in 2003.

Date: 2007, February 07 | Source (EN): San Diego Union Tribune

Thoughts on music

So if the music companies are selling over 90 percent of their music DRM-free, what benefits do they get from selling the remaining small percentage of their music encumbered with a DRM system? There appear to be none. If anything, the technical expertise and overhead required to create, operate and update a DRM system has limited the number of participants selling DRM protected music. If such requirements were removed, the music industry might experience an influx of new companies willing to invest in innovative new stores and players. This can only be seen as a positive by the music companies.

Date: 2007, February 06 | Source (EN): Apple

Music groups ready to sue internet providers

The IFPI, which represents record groups worldwide, has been asking internet service providers to cut off illegal music uploaders for more than a year. (...) The IFPI said its policy of taking legal action against individual uploaders had been successful, adding that it would continue to pursue litigation this year. Mr Kennedy said lawsuits against individuals were "the second best way of dealing with the problem", after pursuing ISPs and websites such as AllofMP3.com.

Date: 2007, February 05 | Source (EN): Financial Times Deutschland