Parents risk large fines from online music

Times Online UK
By Rhys Blakely
20 December 2005


"It is essential that parents acquire the knowledge to make sure their children stay the right side of the law when they go online to get music" - the BPI today

Parents who give their offspring digital music players - such as Apple’s iPod -as Christmas presents are being warned that they risk being hit by hefty fines, amounting to thousands of pounds, if their children download pirate tracks illegally.

MP3 players will be at the top of Christmas lists across the country and most of the music that will be played on them will come from the web. According to research released today, half the music will be downloaded from sites that breach copyright laws and do not charge fees for each track.

Despite record labels in Britain succeeding in hundreds of cases against illegal downloaders, with some people forced to pay fines of up to £6,500, "peer-to-peer" music sites continue to thrive, with millions of users sharing music illegally online.

The British Phonographic Industry (BPI), which represents record labels, has pointed at research that suggests only 1 in 12 parents is aware how music downloads work, despite half of all schoolchildren claiming to have used such services.

The BPI has taken legal action against more than 150 internet users, half of whom have paid settlements to avoid court action. One case involved a mother who was fined £2,500 after her 19-year-old son shared 1,330 songs using the family computer.

A spokesman from the BPI told Times Online: "We expect MP3 players to be a very popular gift this Christmas. It is essential that parents acquire the knowledge to make sure their children stay the right side of the law when they go online to get music to play on them

"The basic rule of thumb is that if something looks to good to be true, it is. Don’t use sites that offer thousands of tracks for free."

People searching for information are being advised to visit the BPI site for a guide on how to stay the right side of the law.

Online music downloads are expected to decide the Christmas No1 for the first time this weekend. Their popularity has been fuelled by high-speed broadband internet access.

Music downloading's popularity has taken the record labels by surprise. The music industry has had to pour vast sums into anti-piracy drives after losing billions to internet pirates using peer-to-peer sites.

But the music industry's efforts to stem the tide of illegal downloading does not appear to be having much impact. According to the research, commissioned by AOL UK, more than three-quarters of those surveyed admitted to illegally downloading music at least once. Just 1 in 6 said they only used paid-for services to buy music on the web.

Music industry figures say they consider this a success, pointing out that 18 months ago, more than 90 per cent of music downloads were unpaid-for bootlegs from sites such as Grokster and Kazaa. At its peak, Kazaa was estimated to have at least 100 million users and to be responsible for 3 billion illegal music downloads in a single month.

But both Kazaa and Grokster have lost key court cases, brought by the music industry, in the past year.

Oh Fuck You BPI. Crawl back under that rock.

"Parents who give their offspring digital music players - such as Apple’s iPod -as Christmas presents are being warned that they risk being hit by hefty fines, amounting to thousands of pounds, if their children download pirate tracks illegally."

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At its peak, Kazaa was estimated to have at least 100 million users and to be responsible for 3 billion illegal music downloads in a single month.

=

Maybe they already have the music to pack those nice, shiny ipods with, hmm?

3 billion tracks a month (I think thats on the low side, but do they count the spoof tracks as illegal?) * 60 months? thats 180 billion tracks. / 100 million users....

that's an average of 1800 tracks per user.

given, that's in Kazza's heyday, but average that out among all the networks.

All in all, that press release is moot.

Parents, give the best gift of all and tell the children the truth, that all of their music is a big lie and that none of it is good. That all they are doing is playing second fiddle to a massive conglomerate that wants nothing more than to turn those children into mindless zombie servants that will shell out money like there's no tommorrow. Remember, the truth saves lives, and keeps you from wasting money this Christmas.

Nice post.

"The British Phonographic Industry (BPI)"

"Phonographic"?!?! Sheesh, talk about being locked into the last century! They'll change their name to the British CD Industry just in time to see massive libraries stored on DVD collections in mp3 format. LOL What a joke.

Tell the children the truth? The whole truth? On Christmas?

Seems kinda cruel. I'm going with the story of Santa's refusal to give good girls and boys music from bad girls and boys.

Ok, like I'm a parent, and some big scary looking dude just told me I could get sued if I give my kids an iPod. Like I'm gonna run right out and buy an iPod, I'm sure.

What do iPods cost these days, $300? If I'm any kind of conscientious parent I've got to already be thinking how stupid it is to put something that expensive in a kid's pocket. Heck, if the RIAA doesn't beat the kid up the local bullies surely will.

So now I've been made aware that this thing puts me in danger of being sued. Like, how many bad idea flags have to go up before I start thinking maybe I'd better get my kid something else for Christmas?

The darn things are selling like hotcakes, doesn't look like very many people are scared away from buying them...............yet.

Wait until the RIAA locks music up so tight no one can use it in any form. Those iPods will be expensive desk decorations then.

Surely, the consumer electronics and computer industries are much bigger than the Hollywood entertainment industries. Why aren't they fighting on behalf of the consumer for fair use rights, and against horrid legislation like the "analog hole" bill? Wouldn't it be in their best interest? Who's gonna buy their precious electronics if the entertainment industry succeed in locking up all content? Yes, iPods are selling like hotcakes but what happens when they will only play (Apple proprietary DRM) AAC music files? Sales will fall off a cliff. Am I missing something here?