Follow-up from the Guardian
Gina Harkell, a jazz musician from north
London, is familiar with Mrs Price's
predicament. In April she also received one
of the BPI's envelopes after her 19-year-old
son, Louis, was caught downloading songs
from Kazaa.
At the time Ms Harkell was in the process of
putting the finishing touches to her third
CD, The Bird in Me. Louis's £2,500 fine,
which her partner was being asked to pay
because his name was on the internet
account, came to half what she had just
spent in the studio and on CD artwork.
At first she was appalled. She wasn't able
to confront Louis directly as he had just
left for his gap year in Thailand. However,
in a series of email exchanges interspersed
with expletives, he explained that nowhere
on Kazaa did it say that filesharing was
illegal. He also said that he had never
received a warning email from the BPI.
When pressed by his mother, Louis admitted
that he had known he was stealing, but that
through Kazaa he had been able to re-educate
himself musically: "He was mainly
downloading songs by Bob Dylan and Otis
Redding, stuff he would never have gone into
a store and bought," says Ms Harkell."My
feeling is that we were used as scapegoats.
The BPI is trying to shut the stable door
after the horse has bolted. Yes, I would
like people to pay for my music but I do not
think prosecut ing people for file sharing
is the way forward."
Indeed, Ms Harkell points out that for every
musician friend who thought Louis ought to
be "locked up", there was another who
admitted that he or she illegally shared
files.
She also points out that for many struggling
musicians, starved of airplay and review
space, file sharing is an increasingly
important promotional tool.
One company which has embraced this
philosophy is IE Music, whose artists
include Robbie Williams, Craig David and The
Sweet Chap, aka Mike Comber, a relative
unknown from Brighton. Last year, IE Music
did a deal with Kazaa, allowing file sharers
to sample Comber's tracks for free.
He got 70,000 hits and 500 sales - a key
factor in his subsequently agreeing a record
deal with Protest. The result is that music
fans can now download tracks from his new
album, Disco for a Domestic, for free for a
limited period from Protest's website before
deciding to commit themselves to buying it.
"For me file sharing was a great way of
getting people to listen to my music," says
Comber. "Obviously if it doesn't translate
into sales then I will be disappointed. But
while I think there should be some copyright
protection for artists I don't believe that
prosecuting children is the way forward."
The BPI begs to differ. It says that once
people get a taste for illegal file sharing,
they are twice as likely to reduce or stop
their retail purchases of records.
"This is a pragmatic, commercial business,"
says Steve Redmond. "If we thought file
sharing was a wonderful promotional tool we
might take a different view, but it isn't.
The fact is if you didn't have speed cameras
people would speed, and if we don't show
that the copyright law has teeth we're going
to be out of business."
So far, most people targeted by the BPI have
paid up. According to the BPI, it is not in
the business of punishing respondents. After
getting in touch with the BPI, Ms Harkell
was able to negotiating paying the first
£500 of Louis's fine. He will have to pay
off the remainder at a rate of £25 a month
when he starts university in September.
"I've told him he won't be drinking much
beer in the union bar," says Ms Harkell.
However, Mrs Price argues that paying is
simply not an option for her or her
daughter. "I'm not going into debt," she
says. "Emily just saw the words, 'download
for free'. It's not her fault she didn't
read the small print."
When is it illegal to share files?
Filesharing programs like Kazaa, are
effectively a huge network of "friends"
lending each other their CDs for copying.
The software enables you to search the
directories of other users on-line and
automatically download music files from
their computers.
The business of catching file-sharers is far
more low-tech than might be imagined. The
BPI simply logs on to the filesharing
networks and searches for copyrighted
tracks. After finding a user downloading the
file, the sharer's details are logged. Then
the user's address is traced via their
internet service provider and a summons is
issued.
It is not actually illegal to own
filesharing software, nor is it necessarily
against the law to use it. The programs have
legitimate uses, such as distributing
copyright-free music. However, the vast
majority of music available will be
copyrighted, and downloading it will be a
breach of the 1988 Copyright, Designs and
Patent Act.
While the authorities consider downloaders a
pest, it is those who make their music
libraries accessible - the "uploaders" -
that have been the main focus of the BPI's
litigation.
Many file-sharers try to avoid detection by
switching off the upload function. But a
recent survey by Entertainment Media
Research found that the BPI's campaign had
prompted many serial downloaders to abandon
filesharing.
But it is arguable that the arrival of big,
legal download services, such as Apple's
iTunes store, has had a greater effect. This
week Apple said iTunes had broken 50m sales
in Europe, with downloads far outstripping
physical purchases of singles.
Other fast-growing sites include Napster,
which lets users download as many tracks as
they like for a flat subscription fee,
Playlouder MSP, Sony Connect and MyCokeMusic.
However, some filesharing sites that purport
to be legal aren't. The rule is that if the
prices seem too good to be true, they are.
While the industry blames filesharing for
the decline in CD single sales, traffic
across Kazaa, one of the most popular
networks, has dropped by more than 50% since
its peak in 2003.
More than 237m albums were sold in the UK
last year, a record figure driven by
decreasing retail prices.
In spite of fears that the leak of
Coldplay's new album X&Y over the internet
would damage sales, the album shot straight
to No 1, registering 460,000 sales in the
first week, the second highest number on
record.
Case study: 'My knowledge of music is
greater'
Louis Harkell was fined for downloading
music from Kazaa.
The last email I expected from my parents
while teaching in Thailand was one saying
I'd been fined £2,500 for downloading music
from Kazaa. I had roughly 1,000 tunes which
I had made available for upload. Uploading
is what turned out to be the illegal action.
Yet never does it say on Kazaa that what you
are doing is illegal.
Having broadband and Kazaa meant I had
hundreds of thousands of tunes at my
fingertips. I'd write a list of tunes I
wanted, queue them up before I went to bed
and have a whole new section of music in the
morning. I totally re-educated myself
musically. When you compare that to slogging
about a music store to buy an album which
costs £12 and which has only two or three
tracks on that you like, it's hard not to
see why so many people do it.
Yet I know that it is stealing. I am
stealing from someone what they've
rightfully earned and I only have to look at
my mother, who sings and records jazz, to
know that making music is a long, hard
process.
Yet, my knowledge of music is much greater
and I have often bought an album by an
artist I've discovered through Kazaa. Kazaa
and other file-sharing devices may actually
be the revival of small-time music producers.
I certainly won't be downloading music
again. I know my friends will be less sure
too. I've been burnt badly. Yet this does
not make me look kindly upon the music
industry, who dominate the production of
music, feeding us glammed-up dross and
getting upset when people go looking for
something different.
Mike (Shmoo)
compmore
Rattlehead
ShadowMom
INeedAlover
gdZiemann
