Introduction - About the BPI and online music
The BPI is the trade association for the UK record industry.
It represents over 300 record companies in the UK. The bulk of these are small independent music companies, but the BPI also represents the four biggest multinational players, the so-called ‘majors’; Universal, SonyBMG, EMI and Warner and collectively its members account for around 90% of recorded music sales in the UK.
Britain's wider music industry currently employs more than 125,000 people in the UK, and its record industry is responsible for most of the UK’s investment in new artists; which in 2004 amounted to 17% of its turnover, or £207 million. To safeguard this investment, the BPI has been engaged in a long-term campaign to support its members' adoption of licensed digital distribution.
It has done this by both supporting emerging new digital music retailers, and by raising awareness over the illegality of distributing music on the internet using peer-to-peer filesharing software - including legal actions against the worst offenders.
Support for legal online music
The internet presents the music industry with both huge opportunities and threats, and the UK's record industry is in a state of significant transition.
For years, downloading music was predominantly an illegal activity, but many new legal download sites have launched in the last two years, which means our members can provide UK consumers with the opportunity to access an increasingly diverse range of music in increasingly innovative ways.
UK record companies are making more and more music available for online retailers to licence, and the recording industry has actively promoted digital music by first establishing a download chart and integrating the format into the official UK singles chart.
Legal action against filesharers
The unauthorised distribution of music over the internet is against the law.
Illegal peer-to-peer filesharing has already had an enormous effect on British music sales; with an estimated £1.1bn in revenue lost in the last three years as a direct result. Our members cannot hope to continue investing in new music if people do not pay for it.
The BPI began a rolling programme of legal actions against illegal uploaders in October 2004.
Follow the links below and above for more information.
