The record industry hits hard!

Consequently, the Syndicat National de l'Edition Phonographique (SNEP) has launched a new awareness campaign, signed "Free music has a price". By giving the "finger" to French mp3 downloaders, this very hard-hitting new campaign focuses on repression and the risks of pirating music. The message is clear: if you keep pirating, it can lead you straight to prison, with a 300,000 euro fine on top. "We wanted to be informative and show clearly what you risk by illegally downloading music on the net", says Hervé Rony, managing director of the SNEP. Many, however, accuse them of having sunk into vulgarity and of having set aside all politeness and consideration towards their potential customers; which is perhaps not very clever, it must be admitted.
Nevertheless, even if the imminent arrival of online music sales offers (from Sony and Apple in particular) and the multiplication and variety of new offers (such as the development of legal sites, new formats, the cut in VAT) keep hopes high for the future of the record market, the situation has become critical enough for everyone to pause over it.

France is not the only country concerned and is in fact just the victim of a worldwide crisis that has now lasted 18 months. Between 1999 and 2003, the number of files downloaded went from 2 to 150 billion, while in the same period record sales fell from 38.7 billion to 20 billion dollars; and in France alone, every day, 16.4 million files are exchanged, while only 400,000 CDs are sold.

The record industry and the whole music sector are awaiting unwavering support from the public authorities to defend intellectual property and musical creation, and it is good to see that, on a French proposal, some twenty European culture ministers took advantage of their meeting at the Cannes festival to debate, on Tuesday 18 May, the problem of piracy in particular, which also seriously affects the film market (in France, 1 million films are downloaded every day). "European action is necessary", declared Culture Minister Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres, since it is true that the crisis spares no one and everyone wants to see the same phenomenon as in the United States, where, after the first trials, record sales picked up (although piracy has not fallen for all that!).
The Culture Minister took the opportunity to unveil the broad outlines of the plan he will shortly present to the Council of Ministers, which should be organised in several stages: a first phase of information and awareness through campaigns aimed in particular at young people, and a second phase of dialogue with technical providers to develop a genuine music and film market on the internet. Of course, this fight also requires an adequate legislative framework, such as the copyright law due to go before Parliament shortly, for example; criminal penalties remain a fundamental element there.

The reggae and dancehall industry is not spared by this crisis, quite the contrary, and that is why the Reggaefrance team wanted to alert its members and visitors to the subject. We particularly wanted to show our support for the SNEP and its new campaign, even though the form did not please everyone. Let's open our eyes and stop excessive piracy, let it be known!