Music piracy research - news archive

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 2721 articles related to music and video piracy (with special attention to articles from Belgium and the Netherlands) originating from 526 unique (web)sources. I started archiving news articles about music and video piracy since 1999. In 2001 I wrote a scientific dissertation about music piracy for my Master's degree in Communication Sciences at the K.U.Leuven. This dissertation incluced a survey among 1500 individuals.

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Jan Verkoyen

Archive for April 2008

Court rejects RIAA's 'making available' piracy argument

He also argued that that he was not the one sharing the files, but that it was the computer that was sharing the files. While the couple lacks legal representation, the Electronic Frontier Foundation said it filed an amicus brief on behalf of the couple (PDF). The EFF argued against the RIAA's "making available" position, saying in a statement that it "amounts to suing someone for attempted distribution, something the Copyright Act has never recognized." Judge Wake apparently agreed with that position.

Cnet, 2008, April 29th | Language: EN | 447 words

Metallica may join the free music movement

Metallica, among the most ardent crusaders against online music file sharing, have indicated they might follow Nine Inch Nails and Radiohead in releasing tracks for free over the internet. (...) In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Ulrich said Metallica's contract with Warner Music expired after their next album. "We want to be as free a player as possible," he said.

The Age (Australia), 2008, April 28th | Language: EN | 606 words

Record companies sue Project Playlist on copyright

Nine major record labels filed suit against an online music provider on Monday, accusing Project Playlist Inc of a "massive infringement" of their copyrights to the songs of artists such as U2 and Gwen Stefani. Project Playlist (http://www.projectplaylist.com) enables its users to easily find, play and share music with others for free, according to the suit filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. (...) Project Playlist instantly streams a digital performance of the selected recording to the user, who can listen to it on his or her computer or mobile device," the lawsuit said.

Reuters, 2008, April 28th | Language: EN | 372 words

Coldplay in digital and vinyl giveaway

Coldplay have announced they'll be giving away a free download of Violet Hill from their forthcoming album Viva La Vida, as well as an old-school 7-inch vinyl version of the ditty with 7 May's NME.

The Register, 2008, April 28th | Language: EN | 202 words

Madonna Embraces The Future Of Music

Madge has never made a secret of her distrust of the Internet and music, being very vocal about her feelings over music piracy. On her last album, Confessions on a Dance Floor, she had it streamed over AOL, but with some colorful comments inserted in to each song to ruin the tunes for anyone who might be inspired to try to steal them and release them over the torrents.

Mashable, 2008, April 28th | Language: EN | 460 words

17-jarige betrapt bij filmen U2 3D

Utopolis Mechelen heeft vrijdagavond een zeventienjarige jongen betrapt terwijl hij de driedimensionale rolprent U2 3D filmde met zijn gsm. Hoewel het om slechts enkele minuten beeldmateriaal gaat, dient de filmzaal toch een klacht in voor het schenden van auteurs- en distributierechten.

Zdnet, 2008, April 28th | Language: NL | 286 words

Music industry opens new front on piracy

Australia's largest internet provider has shrugged off threats of legal action by the music industry as record labels overseas continue to drag ISPs through the courts in a desperate battle to stop music piracy. Telstra BigPond said it would be "gobsmacked" if the music industry tried similar action here and argued local copyright laws protected it from being targeted based on the actions of its customers.

Sydney Morning Herald, 2008, April 25th | Language: EN | 471 words

Does She Look Like a Music Pirate?

When Tanya Andersen opens the door to her modest apartment in suburban Portland, Ore., her Maltese-terrier mix, Tazz, runs over and wags his tail in a friendly hello. The 45-year-old single mother doesn't seem like much of a fighter. She spends most of her days sitting on an overstuffed sofa with a heating pad behind her back to ease chronic pain and migraines that have kept her on disability for nearly five years. Her voice is soft and halting. Yet this woman is behind a fierce assault on the music industry and its tactics for combating music piracy on the Internet. "I've just got to keep doing what I believe is right," she says, with Tazz curled up next to her on the couch. "And that's fighting and letting people know what's happening."

Business Week, 2008, April 24th | Language: EN | 3406 words

IFPI, Czech Police Shutter Pre-Release Music Server

The Czech police, working with record label trade group the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), have shut down a computer server at the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic that hosted what they said was one of the largest collections of pre-release music in the world. The server housed 4 terabytes of data and was the home of a "topsite" called Blind Alley, a distribution hub used by groups with names like AG, CaF, iTWINS and SWE6RUS that specialize in posting pre-release music and other media.

Digital Media Wire (Los Angeles), 2008, April 24th | Language: EN | 264 words

NZ music industry helps bust international CD piracy gang

The body governing the New Zealand recording industry has stopped the flow of thousands of illegal CDs after alerting Australian authorities to an organised gang distributing re-mixed compilation albums. Pirated CDs circulating New Zealand and Pacific island nations sparked police raids in Sydney yesterday after The Recording Industry Association of New Zealand (RIANZ) tipped off their Australian counterparts.

New Zealand Herald, 2008, April 23rd | Language: EN | 379 words

Smith & Williamson appointed administrators of CD pirates

Smith & Williamson has been appointed administrators of SFH at the centre of a £5m music piracy racket.

Financial Director, 2008, April 23rd | Language: EN | 205 words

Music piracy ring busted

The Australian Federal Police have busted an international piracy ring that produced and sold pirated music in a clandestine manufacture and export operation from Sydney. In a two day operation that involved executing 11 search warrants across Sydney, the AFP raided residences in Petersham and Canley Heights, an optical disc manufacturing plant and several music retailers, supermarkets and other retail outlets. The AFP seized thousands of pirated CDs and album covers and charged a 36-year-old Petersham man with copyright infringement. He was bailed and will appear before the Central Local Court on May 13.

The Age (Australia), 2008, April 22nd | Language: EN | 465 words

Carrefour start met filmdownloads

Het was Christophe Geoffroy, international hoofd van de nonfoodafdeling van Carrefour, die het nieuws vrijdag aankondigde. Buiten België doen Spanje, Italië en Frankrijk mee met het online aanbod van het bedrijf. Het lijkt echter nog wel een tijdje te duren voor de webwinkel er komt. Zo zijn er nog geen prijzen bekend, behalve dat deze zullen verschillen van land tot land.

Zdnet, 2008, April 21st | Language: NL | 202 words

RIAA spent $2 million lobbying for tougher IP laws in 2007

These days, the Recording Industry Association of America is arguably best known for its legal campaign against P2P users—filing over 25,000 copyright infringement lawsuits in a few short years will do that, I guess. But as a music industry trade group, the group has several other responsibilities. One of those is lobbying Congress for tougher copyright laws, an endeavor that the group spent nearly $2.1 million on in 2007.

Ars Technica, 2008, April 21st | Language: EN | 657 words

INTERNET LAW - March 2008 German High Court Ruling Limits Data & Piracy Tracking

German music companies who had turned to methods used by the American recording industry to track down music pirates have been stopped by a new court ruling. The Federal German Constitutional Court issued its decision in the case supported by the "Arbeitskreis Vorratsdatenspeicherung" (Working Group on Data Retention) and 34 000 people who signed against the data retention directive. The case was decided on March 19, 2008. This decision does not entirely prohibit electronic communication companies from gathering data, but limits how the data can be used. The upshot is that data harvesting in order to detect wrongdoing can be transferred to law enforcement authorities, but only in cases of serious crimes and with a judicial warrant. Needless to say, music piracy does not rise to the level of a serious offense.

IBLS, 2008, April 16th | Language: EN | 655 words

Artiesten lopen 54 miljoen mis

Bijna veertien jaar na de inwerkingtreding blijft de wet op het auteursrecht voor een goed deel dode letter. Acteurs en muzikanten hebben tot dusver geen enkele vergoeding gekregen voor de programma's waaraan ze hebben meegewerkt en die via de kabel op televisie uitgezonden werden. "Na veertien jaar zit men nog altijd nergens", zegt Luc De Corte, een van de voorlopige bewindvoerders van Uradex.

De Morgen, 2008, April 15th | Language: NL | 477 words

Pirated DVDs fading away as copies of films go to the Web

When Shari Hyman tried to buy some pirated DVDs of first-run movies this past February, she and her friends went to Canal Street, New York City's knockoff marketplace. What surprised them was not the racks of phony brand-name handbags, the briefcases of counterfeit watches and the other bootlegged merchandise, but rather that illegal DVDs were virtually nowhere to be found. (...) And that was a good thing, because as director of the New York mayor's office of special enforcement, it is Hyman's job to eliminate the rampant market in pirated DVDs of first-run movies.

International Herald Tribune, 2008, April 14th | Language: EN | 737 words

Opinion - Michelle Steel: Old sales tax schemes won't work in digital age

Buried in the scrapheap of dotcom IPOs is the story of MP3.com and how the music industry lost its fight with online piracy. An alternative to illegal Web sites such as Napster, MP3.com offered consumers a legal way to digitally access music. Under their business model, consumers would log on, upload their legally acquired music and receive digital access to their entire music collection from anywhere in the world. The plan eliminated illegal file-sharing similar to the way online radio stations stream music today.

Sacramento Bee (SacBee), 2008, April 13th | Language: EN | 694 words

Embargo met dwangsom van 25.000 euro op Tom Barman-interview

Vorige week maandag kregen journalisten die Tom Barman interviewden over het nieuwe album van dEUS, een contract voorgeschoteld waarin ze moesten beloven het interview of delen van het interview niet te publiceren voor 15 april 2008. Als ze het embargo doorbraken, moesten ze de artiest een dwangsom betalen van 25.000 euro.

Het Laatste Nieuws, 2008, April 11th | Language: NL | 124 words

Brusselse videotheekhouder veroordeeld wegens piraterij

Een Brusselse videotheekhouder is op 3 april door de correctionele rechtbank van Brussel veroordeeld tot het betalen van een schadevergoeding van meer dan 1.000.000 euro aan de leden van de Belgian Anti-piracy Federation (BAF). Hij maakte zich schuldig aan piraterij. De man krijgt ook een effectieve gevangenisstraf van zes maanden en een boete van 11.000 euro opgelegd, zo meldt BAF.

De Standaard, 2008, April 11th | Language: NL | 252 words

Tech Heads

The trade body for UK music, the BPI, asked internet service providers to disconnect people who ignore requests to stop sharing music. But Charles Dunstone, of Carphone Warehouse, who run the TalkTalk broadband service, refused, saying it's not his job to police the internet.

Daily Record (Glasgow), 2008, April 11th | Language: EN | 507 words

Nieuw album dEUS (even) te beluisteren op internet

Vantage Point, de nieuwe cd van dEUS, ligt pas op 18 april in de winkel, maar was tot donderdagavond integraal te beluisteren op de Spaanse website van het biermerk Heineken. (...) Nadat alle Belgische media over het nieuws schreven, belde Universal, de Belgische platenfirma van dEUS met COOP, de platenfirma van dEUS in de rest van de wereld. Enkele uren later werd de plaat op de Spaanse website offline gehaald.

De Standaard, 2008, April 10th | Language: NL | 249 words

Music piracy and the BBC iPlayer

The internet has always been constructed on the principle of the free-flow of information - after all, the global computer network was built to survive a nuclear attack. (...) But those who seek to clamp down on the exchange of information online are often doing so for pretty unedifying reasons: propping up a bankrupt political regime or propping up a bankrupt business model - although, of course, the arguments are dressed up rather differently. Now this is a particularly emotive way to start a discussion about two related disputes between content owners and internet providers.

Times Online, 2008, April 10th | Language: EN | 1049 words

Nieuwe cd dEUS integraal op Spaanse site

Op de Spaanse site van Heineken is de nieuwe cd van dEUS, 'Vantage Point', integraal te beluisteren. (...) 'Vantage Point' ligt pas op 21 april in de winkel.

Het Laatste Nieuws, 2008, April 10th | Language: NL | 133 words

De muziekbusiness in 2018

De populaire muziekwinkel van de computerbouwer Apple, iTunes, telt meer dan 50 miljoen klanten en heeft sinds zijn lancering in 2003 al meer dan 4 miljard tracks verkocht. Als we ervan uitgaan dat op de gemiddelde cd twaalf liedjes staan, gingen via iTunes al meer dan 330 miljoen albums over de digitale toonbank. In de Verenigde Staten is het aantal verkochte downloads gestegen tot 30 procent van de totale muziekverkoop. Ook in Europa boeken de iTunes-winkels fors vooruitgang. Intussen likken de traditionele platenfirma's nog steeds hun wonden. De muziekindustrie blijft naar nieuwe businessmodellen zoeken om de dalende fysieke cd-verkoop te counteren, maar de majors ondervinden dat ze niet alleen zijn in hun consolidatiedrang.

De Tijd, 2008, April 7th | Language: NL | 863 words

MySpace start eigen muziekdienst

Het sociale netwerk MySpace start binnen enkele maanden met een eigen muziekwebsite. MySpace werkt daarvoor samen met Universal Music, Sony BMG en Warner Music. Muziek zal gratis te horen zijn op de site en gefinancierd worden met reclame.

De Standaard, 2008, April 3rd | Language: NL | 184 words

Is peer-to-peer downloading just digital gluttony?

"There's a really significant population who are downloading hundreds of songs a month - more than you could listen to if all you did is listen to them," says Garland, whose online media metrics company was among the first to chart the popularity of illegal downloads. "Are these people who are feeding at the all-you-can eat buffet of free music greedy? The answer, by the numbers, is absolutely. They eat till they make themselves sick. People hoard music that they never even listen to."

National Post, 2008, April 1st | Language: EN | 1918 words

Illegaal streamen Family Guy gaat te ver

Op vordering van piraterijbestrijder stichting BREIN is de Nederlandse site Family-guy.nl ontoegankelijk gemaakt. Deze site maakte door middel van streaming afleveringen van de tekenfilmserie Family Guy openbaar.

Stichting Brein, 2008, April 1st | Language: NL | 150 words

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