Not only does music and film piracy rob workers and managers in the entertainment industry but it also exacerbates overall crime
This week was Ficci Frames time again, an opportunity for the entertainment industry to get together and examine how best to grow business. It was, as always, a great environment for ideas and innovation to come together and for industry professionals to spot the new opportunities.
However, it was also the moment to examine whether the artists – our “content creators” – are thriving at the same rate as the rest of the industry; there are a myriad of ways in which people can now enjoy their work but sadly many of those ways are not giving those artists any remuneration. The speed at which digital platforms are developing, particularly in the mobile space, makes it extremely challenging to track usage of each song, music video or film. Are these content creators supported by industry and legislators as well as they should be?
Music and films are central to our lives, but the ease with which they are available without royalty going to the creators should be unacceptable to all of us. Everyone, from the individual music and film lover to the central legislature, has a responsibility to ensure an environment in which creativity and industry thrive but not at the expense of the creators of our entertainment. These are some of the points I hope delegates of Ficci Frames will be pondering as they leave the conference.
Playing a counterfeit rock CD, watching a bogus DVD of a Bollywood blockbuster, or listening to a song copied for free from the Internet may seem perfectly innocent. It may seem, at worst, like a victimless crime. After all, from the comfort of their homes or the convenience of their iPods, how could movie and music fans hurt anyone?
In fact, pirating the works of film and music producers creates victims in nearly every walk of life. Not only does piracy rob workers and managers in the entertainment industry, but it also exacerbates overall crime and has even funded terrorists.
Of the five million Indians employed in the film industry, 571,896 (11.4 per cent) lost their jobs owing to piracy, according to a March 2008 report by Ernst & Young, which conducted a survey for the US Chamber of Commerce’s US-India Business Council. While 150,000 Indians worked in the music industry, counterfeit-related job losses were 133,434 — a staggering 89 per cent loss in employment.
A worrying aspect of music and film piracy is the nexus with organised crime and terrorism. As Rand Corporation explained in 2009, “Counterfeiting is a threat not only to the global information economy, but also to public safety and national security.” Furthermore, Rand found “compelling evidence of a broad, geographically dispersed, and continuing connection between film piracy and organised crime”.
When international venture capitalists, private-equity firms and multinational corporations decide whether or not to invest in a country, protection of copyright can be a deciding factor. It is in the interest of our industry to ensure we have adequate protection mechanisms to reward more creativity and encourage new talent.
Just how bad is piracy in India? Indian cinema is a popular and leading industry, with a gross output of $2.7 billion and wage payments of $180 million, according to a March 2010 study by PricewaterhouseCoopers for India’s Motion Picture Distributors Association.
The Ernst & Young report calculated that Bollywood earned $2.095 billion and lost $959 million to piracy. In other words, copyright theft that year equalled 46 per cent of the entire Indian film industry.
The Ernst & Young study found that the legitimate music industry is worth $183 million while the illegal music industry is worth $325 million.
“Piracy also has a direct impact on employment,” the US Chamber/Ernst & Young survey states, “due to impact on production itself — i.e. fewer records, movies, games etc being produced.”
At the time, Ficci Secretary-General Amit Mitra pointed out, “This study conclusively shows the urgent need to stop the affliction called piracy. So, fighting piracy is where all our collective efforts must start. The domestic media and entertainment industry is an industry of the future, having already contributed over $11 billion annually to the GDP and growing at a CAGR [compound annual growth rate] of over 18 per cent. If we can stop piracy, this industry will grow even faster and provide employment to more people.”
Last June, the Alliance Against Copyright Theft encouraged the public to call a new hotline to report piracy of recorded entertainment. That number is 1800-103-1919.
Operators are waiting for your call.
The writer is President, India and Middle East, Sony Music Entertainment
