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Rs 7b Indian music market rises to tackle piracy

To ensure the survival of genuine music and artists from piracy, the Indian Music Industry has launched a new awareness campaign against the social evil that has eaten at least 30 per cent of the Rs 7 billion market.

IMI president V J Lazarus said that in continuation with their efforts to fight music piracy, social awareness campaigns will be aired on all the prominent Indian television channels with slots where celebrities will appeal to buyers to purchase genuine products and help fight piracy.

Lazarus said, ''We do not want to meet the fate of our neighbours where due to piracy the music industry has failed. In the three-minute video clip, celebrities including Shah Rukh Khan, Govinda, Daler Mehndi, Manisha Koirala and Asha Bhosale are shown appealing to viewers to save music and refrain from buying fake cassettes.

Julio Reibeiro, chief co-ordinator, intellectual property rights, IMI, said several IPR units have been formed to check piracy in different parts of the country.

The process of finalising the teams for Goa and Bihar is also complete.

Reibeiro said that because of their efforts, the tactics of the pirates and dealers have changed. Increasingly, hawkers are being roped in to keep the pirated copies; earlier they used to be displayed in shops. A large number of customers still buy pirated copies as they are cheaper. The music pirates are shifting base and finding new pastures by making inroads into villages, he said.

The IMI is making a sustained bid to attack piracy at the consumer, the distributor and the manufacturers' level. The number of raids conducted in the first half of the year is 228, up from 71. Essentially, of the 25 per cent of the pirated music, 98 per cent involves audio cassettes while two per cent involves compact discs).

The IMI has a vision that in the middle of the next millenium, piracy would be checked by five to ten per cent. The IMI is affiliated to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry.

UNI

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