EMI Music Vice Chairman David Munns has hit back at an article by journalist John Kay which accused the music industry of being "out of tune" when it came to copyright and downloading issues.
In the article Kay argued that the law does not back up the line being taken by most record labels with regards copyright theft. He also accuses the labels of justifying their own business interests by misleadingly positioning their stand on copyright as being "for the good of their artists". Kay reckons all but the biggest artists can actually benefit from a system where music is widely distributed over the internet for free. The creatives, he argue, can easily draw a sufficient income from even limited online sales once a record label's business costs are taken out of the equation.
But Munns disputes much of what Kay says. In a letter to the Financial Times he argues that it is: "wrong to suggest that copyright infringement is not theft. In fact, a Court of Appeal case in 1993 described copyright infringement as 'stealing from the true owner of the copyright'."
Denying that the music industry's failure to provide suitable alternatives justifies the illegal file sharing of music, Munn continues: "More than a half million songs have been sold in the UK this year from a growing number of legitimate digital music services on the internet, and millions more have been sold in the US. There is simply no justification for stealing music online, any more than for stealing from shops."
Adding that he wishes to debunk "the myth that music companies are somehow averse to new ideas," Munn says "in addition to new digital retailers, we [the music industry] have developed new ways to buy music, such as mobile devices, kiosks in US Starbucks locations and marketing partnerships with global brands."
Concluding Munn restates the major record labels' position, saying: "we believe copyrighted material has value and that creators should be compensated."