That Peter Mandelson bloke met a posse of record industry chiefs this week to discuss continued music piracy issues in China. The record company types want Mandelson, as EU Trade Commissioner, to put pressure on the Chinese at a forthcoming EU-China summit to better tackle the extensive digital piracy that goes on in that country and which, the music types argue, is preventing them from capitalising on the potential of the Chinese music market.
In the posse were SonyBMG COO Tim Bowen, EMI Music International CEO JF Cecillon, Universal Music Group Asia Pacific President Max Hole, Dramatico Entertainment boss Mike Batt and the International Federation Of The Phonographic Industry chief John Kennedy.
Ahead of the meeting the IFPI said in a statement: "China has enormous promise for sales of music by European record companies, but its market was worth only 56 million euro in trade revenues last year. The record industry delegation will tell Commissioner Mandelson that this potential can only be realised if the huge problem of China's internet piracy, estimated at over 99 per cent of the overall digital market, can be solved".
Kennedy added: "When the recording industry tries to defend its copyrights against online piracy in China, it is blocked by a combination of heavy procedural rules, woefully low levels of damages and injunctions too narrow to prevent ongoing infringement. Chinese law has simply not kept pace with the explosion of online piracy".