IFPI ‘ravaged by pirates’ report
p2pnet.net News:- One in three music discs sold worldwide, “is an illegal copy, creating a US$4.6 billion music pirate market that destroys jobs, kills investment and funds organized crime”.
So says the Big Four record label cartel’s IFPI (International Federation of Phonographic Industry) in its Commercial Piracy Report 2005.
It is, of course, manifestly impossible for the IFPI to accurately gauge the extent to which counterfeits may or, as seems increasingly more likely, may not be affecting the music industry’s indecently fat bottom line. In fact, the report should have been released under the Fiction category, as with all other IFPI ‘studies’.
“A total of 1.2 billion pirate music discs were sold in 2004,” says the IFPI, failing to explain how it arrives at this figure.
However, given that the various entertainment and software cartel companies seem to use the same creative accounting techniques, it’s reasonable to conclude the IFPI does the same.
‘$30 million in illegal stampers’
The major movie studios own an organization called the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) which recently embarrassed itself and its owners with a look-how-clever-we-are report.
It said it had raided and “stamped out” New Century Media, an “illegal DVD/CD replicating plant” in Los Angeles, seizing “$30 million in illegal stampers and DVDs”.
Owner Jennifer Yu is, however, now accusing the MPAA of slander, saying she’s in the duplicating business. And that’s it. No connection to ‘pirates’ on land or at sea. And the MPAA “stamped out” claim notwithstanding, New Century Media is still very much open and doing business.
So how did the cartel pseudo cop unit arrive at its “$30 million in illegal stampers and DVDs” figure, widely quoted as hard fact by the mainstream media? Easy, says the MPAA.
All they had to do was estimate the value of the DVDs seized during the raid, “as well as the value of DVDs that could be produced using the equipment”.
When 156 equals 421
Jennifer Yu says the $30 million (based on DVDs seized and not any criminal activity) was inflated by 2,000%.
But this shouldn’t surprise anyone because this kind of calculation is child’s play for Big Music, and it’s routine for the mainstream press to parrot it in the same way it reports other entertainment cartel “information” as though it comes from credible sources.
In 2003, the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) instigated, and took part in, a New York Police Department raid which, RIAA spokeswoman Amy Weiss “estimated,” resulted in the seizure of “the equivalent” of 421 CD burners.
How can you have the equivalent of 421 CD burners? – wondered Net activist Bill Evans. So he asked Weiss and it turned out the raiders had seized 156, and not 421, burners.
“We stated that the raid was the equivalent of 421 burners, as we need to put these operations in perspective based on burning capacity and output, not the number of physical slots for the discs,” Weiss explained.
“Since they burn 4x burners – it is roughly 4xs the numbers of burners.”
And when $29 becomes $33 billion
Nor are the movies and studios unique in coming out with spurious statistics.
In its own shock horror report, the BSA (Business Software Alliance), of which Microsoft is a staunch member, claims ‘piracy’ [read counterfeiting] related losses have increased from $29 billion to $33 billion.
Once again, how did the BSA arrive at this so very precise number?
The Economist figured it out. It was those creative accountants again.
In BSA or just BS? it says:
“The association’s figures rely on sample data that may not be representative, assumptions about the average amount of software on PCs and, for some countries, guesses rather than hard data,” it said. “Moreover, the figures are presented in an exaggerated way by the BSA and International Data Corporation (IDC), a research firm that conducts the study. They dubiously presume that each piece of software pirated equals a direct loss of revenue to software firms.
“To derive its piracy rate, IDC estimates the average amount of software that is installed on a PC per country, using data from surveys, interviews and other studies. That figure is then reduced by the known quantity of software sold per country-a calculation in which IDC specialises. The result: a (supposed) amount of piracy per country. Multiplying that figure by the revenue from legitimate sales thus yields the retail value of the unpaid-for software. This, IDC and BSA claim, equals the amount of lost revenue.”
How could you?” – asked BSA spokeslady Beth Scott indignantly!
“The implication that an industry would purposely inflate the rate of piracy and its impact to suit its political aims is ridiculous.”
‘Extraordinary growth’
Meanwhile, back to the IFPI, “It is no longer acceptable for governments to turn a blind eye, or to regard piracy as merely a small irritation to society,” says its boss, John Kennedy.
“The illegal music trade is destroying creativity and innovation, eliminating jobs and bankrolling organized crime.”
According to RIAA numbers, overall units of music formats shipped to retail distribution channels last year increased by 4.4% year-over-year, a 3.3% increase in retail value compared to 2003.
The number of CDs shipped in the US in 2004 rose 5.3%, a 2.7% increase in value compared to the previous year, and, “The DVD music video format continues to experience extraordinary growth, with a 66 percent increase in music shipments from record companies to retail outlets and special markets distribution channels and a 51.8 percent increase in value (list price).”
One of the IFPI’s owners, EMI, was flush enough be able to give Joss Stone, a teenager it has under contract, $100,000 worth of uncut diamonds as a birthday prezzie.
Something you think we should know? tips[at]p2pnet.net
See:-
look-how-clever-we-are – MPAA accused of slander, p2pnet, June 22, 2005
the equivalent – P2p file sharing heretics, p2pnet, April 8, 2004
BSA or just BS? – The Economist angers BSA, p2pnet, June 15, 2005
RIAA numbers – Big Music sings the blues, p2pnet, April 19. 2005
June 24th, 2005 at 8:45 pm
“pathological” – not “pathalogical”.
June 24th, 2005 at 9:41 pm
Much grass : )
June 24th, 2005 at 10:25 pm
So wait a minute…
If they are going by speed burning figures to make a report of x amount of (equivalent) burners taken off, what will they do with read back speeds? I mean, you gotta reader that might run 52x. Does that mean if you have a movie that wasn’t purchased that you have “abused” the movie 52 times in one viewing? Who in their right mind would want to watch such drivel 52 times? Maybe this is where they are getting their piracy figures from, eh?
June 25th, 2005 at 12:18 am
“They don’t hesitate to use gullible mainstream print and electronic news outlets to disseminate lies and half-truths…”
IMHO the word “gullible” should be replaced with COMPLICIT.
There may be a few journalists/news organizations out there who have been living under a rock for 5 years or so, but by and large they know exactly what the truth is behind the lies and half-truths they perpetuate. It would actually be a comfort to be able to believe they are just gullible saps, parroting whatever tripe they are fed. Some reporters may be getting pressured to “tow the line” and present only the industry supported version of the story, but they’re not dumb, they know what they are doing, and it is by no means limited to news concerning “piracy”.
com·plic·it
adj.
Associated with or participating in a questionable act or a crime; having complicity: newspapers complicit with the propaganda arm of a dictatorship.
June 25th, 2005 at 12:30 am
Nope. I meant gullible. You obviously haven’t spoken to any of these scribes : )
But maybe I should have said “gullible and complicit”.
Cheers!
June 25th, 2005 at 1:37 am
Id anything that is copied without a license means a lost sale then freeware means lost sales too. Ditto for copied public domain music.
Almost all the software I use on my computer is freeware. Because they are freeware, I admit I have more program than I need. For example, I have several version of text editors, graphics viewers, graphics editors, 3 audio players, and so on. Since each of these installed programs means a lost in sale to the cartel, then I should feel bad about what I do, copying all those freeware programs?
Then I too should feel bad by going to free concerts. These also means loss of sales to the $100 per seat concerts (usually inferior to the free ones) I do not attend?
Then, by the logic of the cartel, these (freeware programs, public domain music, free concerts) should all be outlawed because they reduce the profits of the “legitimate” industry, the cartels?
There is no such thing as a loss of sale because someone decides not to buy a product or service. This is becasue the sale was never made to begin with and if the sale was never made it is because the potential customer is a free person that decides when and how to part with his money. To pretend otherwise is foolish. It is to pretend that customers can be forced to buy, that they are not free. I never heard so much nonsense.
Rafael Venegas
http://www.gvenegas.com
June 25th, 2005 at 1:44 am
Correction to Subject.
Sorry
June 25th, 2005 at 11:21 am
“I never heard (sic) so much nonsense.”
i have – from the cartels.
June 26th, 2005 at 8:35 am
Every time the fantasies or so called anti copyright activists are confounded by facts all they can do is dribble on with falacies that not only offend the people being targetted but also the authors.
Put up or shut up on what the actual piracy statistics are rather than, without any evidence at all, alleging they are wrong
June 26th, 2005 at 5:07 pm
…..One of the IFPI’s owners, EMI, was flush enough be able to give Joss Stone, a teenager it has under contract, $100,000 worth of uncut diamonds as a birthday prezzie…..
and what a story it was
June 27th, 2005 at 1:44 am
Hmm. It can’t possibly take much longer before the “logic” of the incumbent (and outgoing) media, content and “software manufacturing” industry members becomes obvious to everyone.
I do hope those “in the know” will participate. Write letters to the editor EACH time you see the media getting it wrong, and let all your friends know as well. Sign petitions, talk to your government representatives, and inform them as well as they live in ivory towers generally disconnected from everyday life (and too connected to industry lobbiests who have the funds to force themselves in front of politicians).
BTW: On the Live 8 concerts I wrote a letter to the prime minister:
http://www.digital-copyright.ca/discuss/5307
June 27th, 2005 at 1:55 am
Why write anonymously? The point of these articles is that NOBODY KNOWS, nor is there any way to know, what the “piracy statistics are”. All we do know is that they are far lower than the industry associations are telling you.
We have all the evidence. Some of the studies (such as those from the BSA) include the methodology which is clearly flawed. Follow nonsense mathematics and no matter what numbers you put in you get garbage out.
In the case of software I know for a fact that the BSA study includes the growing Free/Libre and Open Source Software marketplace in their concept of “theft”. All that they are measuring is the number of new computers shipped to customers that didn’t install “software manufacturing” software (Microsoft Windows, Apple MacOS-X, Microsoft Office, Adobe,etc). On none of the computers that I own or support for customers is there any software from these companies, so each computer I purchase counts in their statistics as “theft”.
We can’t, however, give “proof” of how many copies this represents as the most successful alternative business models don’t have any reasons to count copies in the first place at all as that is not part of the model.
IE: If I give you copy of TheOpenCD.org to install on your Windows computer (I give these out as a substitute for business cards), it clearly says on the CD to “Please Share This Disk”. This means you are supposed to make copies, and not only does nobody consider these copies to be “piracy” but that everyone in this alternative marketplace considers this to be our primary customer building and marketing tool.
It is also dribble to call us anti-copyright activists. I am a software author that is as dependent on copyright as Microsoft is. The difference is that they are using a *BUSINESS MODEL* that only made sense in the 1980’s and earlier, and I’m using a business model that is tuned for the future. Dinosaurs should not be allowed to control evolution, which is what the copyright debates are about — not so-called “piracy”.
The real point is that “piracy statistics” aren’t worthwhile to try to figure out. The issue is not how many illegal copies are being made, but the fact that these dinosaurs are still relying on outdated business models which are out-of-touch with the new economy.
June 27th, 2005 at 5:26 pm
http://news.com.com/Supreme+Court+rules+against+file-swapping+firms/2100-1030_3-5764135.html