Fact Sheet - Public Awareness Campaigns

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The music industry conducted an intense global information campaign in 2003 with the aim of explaining the illegality of unauthorised online music file-sharing, how new legal online services are developing as well as how online copyright theft hurts people working across the music sector.

Campaigns have ranged from music coalition websites, public relations and advertising campaigns, university and school projects and messages sent directly to people using unauthorised services. Coupled with the launch of extensively publicised lawsuits against major copyright offenders in the US, they have had a decisive impact in raising public awareness on the issue internationally.

New figures released by IFPI show that the general public has a very high level of awareness that unauthorised file-swapping is illegal, indicating that the industry's public education activities have indeed had an effect.

Multi-media campaigns

Summer 2003 saw an alliance of music sector groups launch www.pro-music.org, a website aimed at promoting legitimate online music services and confronting the myths surrounding online music piracy. The website is supported by six international organisations representing musicians, publishers, performers, artists, major and independent record companies, producers and retailers across the music industry.
- A national version of pro-music has been launched in Germany, and in France with the support of the French government, with other countries to follow suit.
Many other countries have launched national campaigns. Canada's 'Keep Music Coming' campaign, for example, uses the web, ads, and CD inserts to inform young Canadians that when people buy music, they help artists create more music and give new artists a chance to be heard.
The 'Get It Right!' educational campaign in the Netherlands - involving the Ministry of Justice and representatives of copyright industries - aims to help teachers introduce the subject of copyright to their 14-15 year old pupils by taking them through the process by which books, newspapers, film, websites and music are created.
The Singaporean 'Don't let the Music Die' video has been distributed to almost 200 educational institutions, and clips from the video broadcast on television. Singapore's largest broadcaster has also run television and radio commercials as part of the 'Keep the Music Alive' campaign.

Other countries with consumer-advertising include:

Japan, where five other industry groups joined the recording industry's 'Respect Our Music' ad.
Belgium with their 'Please Don't Steal Music. Just because you can doesn't mean you should.' Ads.
Canada with two recent advertising spots ' Virus' and 'Jimmy's Room'.

Information to students and employees

File-sharing activities have become a serious concern to companies and universities as peer-to-peer applications quickly consume their bandwidth. There are reported examples in universities around the world where virtually all of the institutions' bandwidth had been taken over by peer-to-peer traffic, affecting those who depend on these resources to study and work.
IFPI's Copyright Use and Security Guides were mailed to thousands of companies, government departments and educational institutions in 21 countries in early 2003. They call on administrators of computer networks within government, private companies and educational establishments to advise employees and students against copyright misuse on computer systems. The guides advise these groups of the security and legal risks they run when copyright material is copied and transmitted without permission.
The distribution of the brochures to academic institutions was the start of a greater co-operation between the music industry and universities around the world.
Many schools and universities have taken steps to discourage illicit file-swapping activity, imposing bandwidth limits, sending warning notices, using filtering and other technical tools, and disconnecting users that trade copyrighted music unlawfully. In Italy, schools have been requested by their regional educational authorities to adopt copyright protection measures.
Most recently, universities in the US have begun giving courses in copyright law and at least one has already begun to offer legitimate music services along with cable TV, free newspapers, and other perks of campus life when students start university.

Instant messaging: reaching file-swappers directly

Users illegally sharing music files online can also be reached directly. For several months the recording industry has been sending instant messages over peer-to-peer systems to users who appear to be offering unlicensed music. These warn users that they should not engage in copyright infringement and explain why using lawful copies of music is so important.
Since April 2003, the RIAA has sent approximately 18 million instant message warnings to peer-to-peer users in the US. Record industry groups in seven other countries - Australia, Austria, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Sweden and the UK- have sent nearly three million instant messages to peer-to-peer users since August 2003.
Following are samples of the instant messages sent:
- Austria: ACHTUNG! Sie bieten geschützte Musikfiles ohne Zustimmung der Rechteinhaber über eine Internet-Tauschbörse an…
- Australia: INTERNET FILE SHARING IS THEFT. IT ROBS ARTISTS AND SONGWRITERS OF INCOME AND REDUCES THE AVAILABILITY OF NEW MUSIC…
- Canada: WARNING: It appears that you are offering copyright music to others from your computer…