IFPI

The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) is the organization that represents the interests of the recording industry worldwide. Its secretariat is based in London, UK.

As of 2008, the IFPI represents approximately 1,400 record companies in 73 countries.cite web|url=http://www.ifpi.org/content/section_about/index.html|title=About IFPI|accessdate=2008-07-02|date=2008-02-29 ] Its stated policies are to fight copyright infringement; promote industry-friendlyLopsided|date=September 2008 copyright laws; and lobby for legal conditions believed to be in the interest of recording companies, including DRM.Fact|date=February 2008

Since January 1, 2005, the chief executive and chairman of IFPI is John Kennedy OBE, who has worked in the industry for more than 30 years and was one of the co-producers of Live Aid and Live8. [cite press release|title=John Kennedy to succeed Jay Berman as Chairman and CEO of IFPI|url=http://www.ifpi.org/content/section_news/20040913.html|publisher=IFPI|date=2004-09-13|accessdate=2008-07-02]

In addition to its international secretariat, IFPI has regional offices in Brussels, Hong Kong, Miami, Athens and Moscow.

IFPI recognises 48 affiliate groups, including BPI (British Phonographic Industry), RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) and ARIA (Australian Recording Industry Association)

According to the IFPI, "any company, firm or person producing sound recordings or music videos which are made available to the public in reasonable quantities is eligible for membership of IFPI", though they do not say what "reasonable qualtities" actually means. In those countries where there is a national group of IFPI or an affiliated organisation, potential members should first join the national body before seeking membership of IFPI.Fact|date=July 2008

History

Phonogram performance rights

The IFPI was formed in Rome in November 1933 [citation|title=Yearbook of International Organizations 2001/2002|page=1503|isbn=3598239947|publication-date=2001|publisher=Saur München] to represent "the interests of the recording industry worldwide in all fora" [citation|last=Drahos|first=Peter|last2=Braithwaite|first2=John|title=Information Feudalism: Who Owns The Knowledge Economy?|pages=181–182|isbn=1853839175|publication-date=2002|publisher=Earthscan "The key actor in coordinating the industry's piracy strategy became its international trade association, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. Formed in 1933, its mission was to represent 'the interests of the recording industry worldwide in all fora' (IFPI interview, 1993)."] by promoting legislation and copyrights [citation|last=Davies|first=Gillian|title=Oral History of Recorded Sound (Abstract)|date=May 1984|publisher=British Library National Sound Archive|url=http://sounds.bl.uk/View.aspx?item=021M-C0090X0050XX-0100V0.xml|accessdate=2008-04-10 "IFPI founded in 1933 to deal with [r] ecord industry at inter-governmental level; promoting legislation; copyrights for industry worldwide." Davies was an associate director and chief legal counsel to the IFPI.] "to protect the largely British-based recording industry" by promoting a global performance right in gramophone sound recordings. [citation|last=Frith|first=Simon|title=Copyright and the music business|publication=Popular Music|volume=7|issue=1|date=January 1988|pages=57|url=http://www.jstor.org/pss/853076 "IFPI was founded in 1933, in its own words, 'to protect the largely British-based recording industry', but, as Gavin McFarlane points out, its brief was more specifically 'to promote on a world-wide basis the performing right in gramophone records'…"]

Phonogram copyrights

The IFPI heavily lobbied at the Rome Convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting Organisations of 1961, which established an international standard for the protection of sound recordings, live performances & broadcasts. This Convention was opposed by trade groups representing authors and composers, who were concerned that establishing such "neighbouring rights" would undermine their own control over how their works were used and would result in prohibitively expensive licensing. [Drahos & Braithwaite 2002, pg. 181: "Authors and composers became increasingly worried by copyright's technological turn. They saw it as compromising the artistic purity of copyright. At a more practical level, authors were worried that the recognition of a 'neighbouring right' in the form of a sound recording would undermine their control over the use of works as well as add to users' costs. Users would now have to pay additional licence fees to producers of sound recordings. It was the resistance of key author associations that helps to explain why it took more than 30 years for an international standard for the protection of sound recordings to emerge in the form of the Rome Convention of 1961."] Pressure from broadcasters who didn't want to license the records they broadcast, among other factors, kept the U.S. from signing the Convention; the U.S. did not recognize a separate sound recording copyright until 1971. [Drahos & Braithwaite 2002, pg. 181: "The US did not join the Rome Convention. Aside from some constitutional issues, powerful broadcasting organizations in the US did not want to endanger a status quo in which they received records from the recording industry for free or at a discount. Domestically, the US did not recognize a separate copyright in sound recordings until 1971."]

Phonogram anti-piracy

The IFPI then began a campaign against piracy. In 1971 it succeeded in advocating and obtaining the Convention for the Protection of Producers of Phonograms Against Unauthorized Duplication of Their Phonograms (the Geneva Phonograms Convention), which 72 countries signed. [Drahos & Braithwaite 2002, pg. 181: "After its major lobbying effort on the Rome Convention [of 1961] , IFPI began a campaign against piracy. It pushed for and obtained in 1971 the Convention for the Protection of Producers of Phonograms against Unauthorized Duplication of their Phonograms."]

In 1986, the ISO established the International Standard Recording Code (ISRC) standard, ISO 3901. In 1989, the IFPI was designated the registration authority for ISRC codes. ISRC codes "enable the use of copyright protected recordings and works to be controlled; facilitate the distribution and collection of royalties (performances, private copying); and assist in the fight against piracy." [ISRC Practical Guide, 3rd edition, 1998, International ISRC Agency, LONDON]

In 1994, in an effort to combat piracy, the IFPI and the compact disc manufacturing industry introduced Source Identification (SID) codes, which are markings on CD parts that identify the manufacturers, equipment, and master discs that were used to create each disc.

SID codes are formatted as the letters "IFPI" followed by 4 or 5 hexadecimal digits. A SID-marked disc typically bears at least two codes, each imprinted on different physical components. A number prefaced with "L" is a "mastering code," a serial number taken from a pool assigned by Philips to the manufacturer. It identifies the Laser Beam Recorder (LBR) signal processor or mold that produced a particular stamper or a glass master disc from which molds are produced. Non-"L" numbers are "mold codes", the first 2 or 3 digits of which are assigned by Philips to the operator of the manufacturing or mastering plant, which might not be the same plant that manufactured the stamper or glass master; and the remaining digits are a serial number assigned by that plant to its molds.

Domain incident

In mid-October 2007, after the IFPI let the ifpi.com domain registration lapse, ownership of the [http://www.ifpi.com/ ifpi.com] domain was transferred to The Pirate Bay, a pro-piracy group which claimed it received the domain from an anonymous donor. [cite web|url=http://torrentfreak.com/ifpi-now-owned-by-the-piratebay-071012/|title=Anti-Piracy Organization Domain IFPI.com Now Owned by The Pirate Bay|publisher=TorrentFreak|author=Ernesto|date=2007-10-12|accessdate=2008-04-10] The group set up a Web site under the domain titled "International Federation of Pirates Interests," a replacement backronym for IFPI. Ownership of the domain was returned to the IFPI in late November, when a WIPO arbitration panel concluded that "the Disputed Domain Name is identical or confusingly similar to a trademark in which the [IFPI] has rights" and that the Pirate Bay's representative "registered and [was] using the Disputed Domain Name in bad faith" and failed to adequately rebut the IFPI's contention that he "has no rights or a legitimate interest in the Disputed Domain Name." [cite web|url=http://www.wipo.int/amc/en/domains/decisions/html/2007/d2007-1328.html|title=WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center Administrative Panel Decision: IFPI Secretariat, IFPI International Federation of the Phonographic Industry v. Peter Kopimi Sunde aka Brokep (Case No. D2007-1328)|date=2007-11-19|accessdate=2008-04-10]

OiNK.cd incident

On October 23, 2007, the torrent website OiNK.cd was shut down. The website showed a message telling of an investigation of OiNK.cd by the IFPI, BPI, Cleveland Police, and the FIOD ECD into "suspected illegal music distribution". [cite web|url=http://www.thisisthenortheast.co.uk/display.var.1779471.0.police_swoop_to_close_down_illegal_website.php/|title=Police release suspect in illegal music download investigation|publisher=The Northern Echo|last=Burton|first=Nigel|date=2007-10-14|accessdate=2008-04-10]

ee also

*World music market
*Related rights

References

External links

* [http://www.ifpi.org/ Official website]