Overview

The Digital Economy Act, rushed through the House of Commons ahead of the election, will enable copyright holders to go after downloaders of pirated music. In this briefing, Field Fisher’s Hamish Porter explains how it will impact internet users.

UK sales of CDs fell by £8.7m in 2009, but the increase in royalties generated by online music sales more than compensated for this by growing by £12.8m, according to figures from music rights agency PRS for Music.

What is encouraging for the music industry is that the growth in online sales is, after years of net decline, faster than the fall in the sale of CDs. This clearly reflects the changing purchasing preferences of the public, no doubt fuelled by the increasing size of the generation who prefer to record and listen to music through mobile devices rather than being tied to the traditional ‘hard copy’ music and clunky equipment. It also reflects changes in the market facilitated by record companies offering sales of single tracks from albums for less than £1.

Pink Floyd’s recent success in preventing EMI from offering single tracks taken from its albums is unlikely to be repeated. Pink Floyd’s albums were produced when an album was a composite product, each track part of a unified whole. Their ability to control the sale of their music reflects the age in which they wrote and performed their music and the contractual terms they negotiated with their record company when they became an established success.

Click “view briefing” to read more.