The MD of indie record company Revolver Records has been forced off the ruling Council of record label trade body the BPI after a dispute over the organisation's role in a piracy court case.
BPI Council members voted to exclude Paul Birch, who has been on the Council for eighteen years, after he gave testimony in favour of a company accused by the trade body of assisting in the distribution of pirated CDs from the Czech Republic in the UK.
Birch says he had concerns about the BPI Anti-Piracy Unit's case against Hertfordshire-based SFH, and felt a deal had been done with the real pirates in order to get evidence against SFH owner Farhat Nissa who, he felt, was not the real criminal. He adds that he wasn't the only BPI member who was of this opinion, and even one other Council member backed SFH in the case.
In a long statement issued on Friday, Birch confirmed he had been removed from the BPI Council saying: "It's clear the BPI are upset with my giving testimony in a criminal case concerning SFH last year". On his decision to do so, he continued: "For me this was a matter of conscience, I believed there were inaccuracies in the BPI case that needed to be set straight. Several issues arose in the testimony given by officers that were misleading. The courts judgement sent the manufacturing agent to prison, but let off two of the pirates".
He added: "An industry that relies upon the law but cannot establish justice in its dealings has lost sight of its moral compass. BPI has lost sight of its objectives to represent its members, it's long been thought of as a club for the majors. Regrettably that has become a reality".
According to Music Week, Nissa and two of her associates, including her husband, were jailed for their role in the distribution of the Eastern European bootleg CDs. Their sentences were subsequently reduced on appeal, though the convictions stand.