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CMU Insights: Then and now – digital challenges and opportunities for the music industry

By CMU Editorial | Published on Wednesday 19 January 2022

Ten years ago this week two major events happened in relation to the music industry’s long running battle against online piracy and copyright infringement.

First Wikipedia blacked out its English language edition for 24 hours in protest at web-blocking proposals then being considered in US Congress. And then the American authorities suddenly shut down MegaUpload, a controversial file-transfer and video-sharing service that claimed it was protected from liability for any infringement on its platform by the copyright safe harbour.

As CMU’s Chris Cooke discusses in this new blog post, in the decade since those dramatic events, web-blocking and safe harbour reform have dominated the music industry’s battle with online piracy and copyright infringement. Although the prominence of that battle has waned somewhat. The recorded music business was at its lowest ebb in 2012, but as the streaming boom gained momentum and the sector went back into growth, the industry’s priorities understandably shifted.

But where are we at today when it comes to music copyright, online piracy and streaming? Well, all of those things will be covered in the next series of CMU Webinars taking place next month – which together put the spotlight on all the latest music business trends, including the continuing streaming boom and the surging value of music copyright, and where the ongoing reform of copyright law and the never-ending battle against online piracy fits in to it all.

Find out more about the webinars – and book your place – here.