Music body launches licencing initiative to curb piracy

The Indian Music Industry today launched an initiative, Music Mobile Exchange (MMX), to issue licences to mobile store owners offering music downloads in a bid to curb music piracy and cash in on the growing demand for music on mobile phone memory chips.      

"There is a huge demand for music for mobile phones and we have even seen people advertising download offers, which is illegal. We are offering a legal way for shopkeepers to make money from the increasing demand for music content on mobile chips," IMI Secretary General Savio D'Souza told PTI.      

A shopkeeper will have to pay Rs 1,500 to Rs 5,000 per month per computer for licence depending on the kind and location of the shop, he added.      

According to IMI estimates, music constitutes 77 per cent of the content download on mobile phone chips, and the music industry in the country faces losses amounting to Rs 300 crore each year due to mobile chip piracy.      

Mobile chip piracy refers to downloading music from the web or illegally copying it from cassettes or CDs and then transferring it to mobile phones.