British Music Rights, the lobbying group established to represent the interests of UK songwriters and publishers in the digital age (mainly by never returning my phone calls - are they in anyway related to the Mayor Of London's office?), yesterday published a report that called on companies who provide digital services or hardware to play a more proactive role in combating the illegal distribution of music online. As a result of the report, Music Business Forum, yet another UK music industry trade body, has written to key digital companies and trade associations asking them to do more to "encourage legitimate music use and discourage unauthorised use".
From what I can see there's not much in the report that hasn't been said before, though it probably needs saying again. The report points out how valuable music has been to many web, mobile and hardware companies in helping them drive sales of their own products and services, but says those companies "appear indifferent as to whether consumers' access to music is legitimate or not". The implication is that these companies depend on the music business to drive sales of their own products, and therefore they should be helping the music industry protect its copyrights online.
Commenting on the report, BMR Chief Executive Emma Pike told reporters: "Internet Service Providers, mobile companies and hardware providers, almost without exception, use access to music as a key selling point of their products or services - yet they do little to promote legal use of music over illegal use. It is time for digital platforms to demonstrate greater respect for the creative community without whom they would have no content to fuel demand for their services."