Corr accuses Minister of 'not bothering'

REACTION:MINISTER FOR Communications Eamon Ryan said he would meet representatives from the music industry and internet service providers to formulate an agreed approach to illegal downloading.

But singer-songwriter Sharon Corr has accused the Minister of adopting a “not bothering attitude” towards the issue.

Corr said she was unimpressed when she confronted the Minister recently before the Music Show in the RDS.

“The attitude I got from him is that it was too much trouble to go to,” she said.

Corr, who has been a trenchant and very public critic of illegal downloading, said the lesson of yesterday’s UPC’s High Court judgment was that it was up to the Government to legislate against illegal downloading.

“I think that everything the judge said in his statement strongly inferred that he would have had there been a law in place,” Corr said.

“We need legislation, we need the Government to do that, not for me that I can make some money, but for the country that we can make some money from the music industry. It is a great part of our culture. We have been exporting it forever.”

Corr said she was lucky to have been involved with The Corrs before the advent of illegal downloading.

“Now artists are not making ends meet. I know many artists who can’t really afford to live on what they are making because they are getting no money from their publishers. They are not getting signed by record companies because record companies had no money to sign them.”

Responsibility for tackling the issue is split between Mr Ryan’s Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources which is responsible for internet service providers such as UPC, and the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Innovation which is responsible for copyright infringement.

A statement from the Department of Communications warned that it was a complicated issue. The record industry is proposing a “three strikes and you are out” policy against illegal downloaders, but, to date, only Eircom has signed up to it.

The department added that France and the UK, the only countries in Europe to implement such a policy, are both facing legal problems.

The case was taken by the “big five” record companies operating in Ireland: Warner Music, Universal Music, Sony BMG, EMI Records and WEA International.

Irish Recorded Music Association chairman Willie Kavanagh said the record labels will meet this morning to decide whether to appeal the judgment to the Supreme Court.

He said the industry is being left with no choice given that it is losing €60 million a year from illegal filesharing and the Government’s attitude to filesharing is “sadly lacking”.

UPC said it was glad the court had held to the “mere conduit” principal and that it was not responsible for content transmitted through its network.”

“UPC has repeatedly stressed that it does not condone piracy and has always taken a strong stance against illegal activity on its network,” the company said.

Meanwhile, Eircom is set to launch Ireland’s first legal streaming service for music, costing from €5 a month.

To date Ireland has been one of the few European countries without a streaming service which allows people to listen to an unlimited amount of music for a small fee.

The service will be available to Eircom broadband customers. A €5-per-month subscription will allow for unlimited streaming which will include eight downloadable tracks. There will be several packages costing up to €20 a month which will allow for unlimited streaming and 50 downloadable tracks, according to the Mr Kavanagh. He expects the service to be announced next month.

Mr Kavanagh, who is also the managing director of EMI Ireland, said it was important to offer a “carrot” of cheap legal downloading along with the “stick” of cutting off broadband for those who illegally download.