INXS, Keith Urban among most pirated Australian artists
INXS and Keith Urban were the most pirated Australian artists during March and April this year on illegal torrent sites.
In preparation for its submission to the Government – in response to the forthcoming Copyright (Online Infringement) Bill 2015 – Music Rights Australia compiled data from the ARIA Albums and Singles charts to cross against track and album downloads on this year’s most popular torrent websites. MRA, which represents more than 70,000 songwriters, composers, publishers and record labels, found albums by INXS, Keith Urban, Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds and Christian band Hillsong United were among the Top 14 most downloaded on illegal sites.
Source: Music Rights Australia
Speaking to TMN, Vanessa Hutley, General Manager of Music Rights Australia, said that while the Government’s forthcoming anti-piracy code won’t be a “silver bullet” for digital copyright infringement, it will decrease the amount of artist exploitation. Specifically due to the clause where rights holders will be able to apply for court orders to force ISPs to block websites.
“These types of orders have been made in other countries already so there is evidence that they do work,” Hutley told TMN. “Importantly, every artist whose work is being exploited on these illegal sites gets the benefit of the court order even if they are not a party to the application to the Court.
“Suppressing these illegal sites will support the legitimate market and importantly allow copyright owners to have their choices about how they make their creative content available more easily respected.”
The implementation of similar website blocking orders overseas has proven successful. The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry's (IFPI) Digital Music Report states: “ISPs in 19 countries have been ordered to block access to more than 480 copyright infringing websites.”
Australia’s most popular torrent website The Pirate Bay was among a handful of sites blocked in the UK as part of its anti-piracy scheme. According to the IFPI “there has been a 45% decline (from 20.4m in April 2012 to 11.2m in April 2014) in visitors from the UK to all BitTorrent sites, whether blocked by ISPs or not.”
Italy has also seen a decline following the implementation of a website blocking system; courts ordered the blocking of 24 BitTorrent sites and from January 2013 to January 2015 the territory saw a 25.6% decline in the number of overall BitTorrent downloads.
“Music Rights Australia has every reason to expect there will be a similar impact on the illegal sites in Australia,” Hutley told TMN. “However there is no silver bullet. A range of effective processes are needed to ensure artists’ rights are respected online.”
MRA is an active supporter of the [the copyright scheme is not in the Bill] Copyright Notice Scheme, where, as part of the cross- industry agreed scheme, ISPs issue Education, Warning or Final Notices to relevant account holders when rights holders request it. MRA also continues to work with the online advertising community on the local code it has been developing in consultation with the Audited Media Association of Australia since October 2013. MRA and the Audited Media Association of Australia (AMAA) hope to implement protocols similar to that being used in the UK.
“Creators should be able to choose how they make their work available, and that includes for free if they so choose,” Hutley said. “These illegal sites do not respect those choices and make money for the operators only.”