| Policy - Anti-Piracy |
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AIRCO has identified a number of possible strategies that could be adopted and implemented during the first phase of AIRCO's Anti Piracy programme. As AIRCO's Anti Piracy committee, we are eager to take control of our destiny. We have thus adopted an "all-inclusive" strategy dubbed IMMU to ensure a comprehensive fight against piracy. This programme will occur by involving the government interdepartmental committee in consultation with AIRCO through the DAC. We also hope to foster partnerships with other relevant stakeholders like RISA, CWUSA, SAFACT and CPUs. AIRCO ANTI PIRACY SUB-COMMITTEE (AAPS) Introduction and Background The South African music industry is experiencing major challenges due to the rising scourge of piracy. Especially targeted are local productions from Independent Record Companies. AIRCO has identified a number of possible strategies that could be adopted and implemented during the first phase of AIRCO's Anti Piracy programme. As AIRCO's Anti Piracy committee, we are eager to take control of our destiny. We have thus adopted an "all-inclusive" strategy dubbed IMMU to ensure a comprehensive fight against piracy. This programme will occur by involving the government interdepartmental committee in consultation with AIRCO through the DAC. We also hope to foster partnerships with other relevant stakeholders like RISA, CWUSA, SAFACT and CPUs. 1.1. Objective of the programme
2. Proposed Projects for Phase One
2.1. Projects
 3. Project Deliverables The following are expected deliverables:
3.1. Key Performance Indicators
4. Project Approach In order to ensure that the fight against piracy is a success, AAPS will ensure that various organisations with relevant experience and expertise are engaged in the capacity building of the IMMU to ensure sustainability of the project. Such organisations will include Department of Arts and Culture, Department of Trade and Industry, Department of Justice, Department of Safety and security, Department of Finance or The Receiver of revenue, RISA, CWUSA and SAFACT. 4.1. Role Played By Each Organisation 4.1.1. Department of Arts and Culture The Department of Arts and Culture is envisaged to:
4.1.2. Department of Trade and Industry DTI is envisaged to be a member of the IMMU through a representative that will be entrusted with powers to advice on what the department can or cannot do and to advise on the procedure to be followed by the IMMU in achieving the intended outcome. The DTI, being the department having the mandate to deal with copyright and custom duty issues, is believed to be the relevant stakeholder in initiating and authorising the processes of law amendment where the law is deemed weak in order to secure successful arrests and other relevant issues relating to the copyright act. 4.1.3. Department of Justice The department of Justice has a strong directorate that is responsible for the application of laws and thus it would be ideal to have it participating at an advisory level during the review laws intended for amendment. We also believe that much of the capacity building in terms of public and stakeholder education will be sourced from the Department of Justice. 4.1.4. Department of Safety and Security The Department of Safety and Security, both at the National and provincial level, has various projects which aim to reach out to society to encourage collective responsibility in curbing crime. We therefore hope to find synergies in some of the programmes and partner in such programmes. The partnership could benefit both parties In terms of building capacity amongst members of the relative structures. Of particular benefit could be education with regard to procedures to be followed during raids and arrests of pirates. 4.1.5. Department of Finance or Receiver of Revenue DOF will be involved in issues that will affect price hikes in relation to the intended application of the Recordable Media Levy. We hope to develop a sustainable relationship that will span into other tax related issues and rebates for legitimate music producers. 4.1.6. Recording Industry of South Africa The relationship between RISA and AIRCO will be established in order to ensure that there are coordinated efforts in curbing piracy in order to avoid unnecessary duplication of activities. We would also partner in programmes in order to intensify our fight against piracy as we share common sentiments about the effects of piracy in our industry. We believe that all stakeholders would learn more from RISA having being in existence long enough to understand significant amount of problems faced by the industry against piracy. It would be ideal for the IMMU to be in partnership with RISA due to existing resources that they have allocated for the fight against piracy. 4.1.7. Creative Workers Union of South Africa There is much to be achieved through the union in all concerted efforts to make awareness and in the education of both artists and public about piracy. We hope that a partnership with CWUSA would bring totality to IMMU as an industry true representative on the issue of piracy. CWUSA would play a pivotal role in popularising the fight against piracy because it has the relevant voices that people could easily identify and associate with. On the other hand CWUSA could take advantage of the platform availed by IMMU to unify musicians for future challenges. 4.1.8. Association of Independent Record Companies AIRCO will be responsible for the following areas;
4.1.9. South African Federation Against Copyright Theft It is envisaged that SAFACT will be incorporated much along the lines of the proposed relationship with RISA. Incorporation of SAFACT resources and experience will lend the IMMU much capacity. 4.1.10. National Prosecuting Authority Working in conjunction with the Departments of Safety and Security and Finance, the NPA will provide input in terms of procedural correctness in order to achieve the best possible outcomes in terms of enforcement. It is also believed that the Asset Forfeiture Unit within NPA would give remedy to the problem that has been previously experienced in terms of evidence being contaminated to the detriment of the cases. 5. Time frame The planned Project Launch is to take place in September 2007 during the AGM once the four projects have been established and are up and running. The rationale for the Launch is to ensure that we popularise the project and encourage other stakeholders to buy into the project and actively participate. The following is a tentative schedule of activities and deliverables. 6. PHASE ONE
Table 1: TIME FRAME
7. Establishment of Project Steering Committee The project steering committee will be comprised of the following organisations;
8. The Rationale for Choosing these Projects 8.1. IMMU IMMU is an essential formation in light of the ongoing failure to secure successful arrests of pirates regardless of the apparent evidence on the scenes of crime. The IMMU is believed to be a mechanism that would fast track the procedural delays and technical problems experienced in enforcing laws. It will finally eradicate complications and the frustrations that are experienced by those who have to enforce them. IMMU will easily bridge the gap between government departments who are experiencing much difficulty in working in a more synchronised manner on issues that overlap into other departments’ jurisdiction. 8.2. Banderol System The Banderol system is a system that could be utilised in terms of distinguishing between a legitimate and counterfeit product. It would serve a similar purpose that the hologram serves in protecting money from fake duplications. After its first implementation, the system will undergo stages of improvement until such a time that it is deemed comprehensive and competent enough to withstand any counterfeit attempt. We believe that the application of a banderol would also serve as a technical delay to the escalating piracy whilst buying time to develop even more sophisticated Hi-tech systems as pirates can’t print a hologram using a standard printer. Organised crime organisations are slowed as they need to procure the technology needed, and small scale opportunists are cut out of the market. 8.3. Recordable Media Levy and Warning Messages Having being informed by the MITT recommendations and the submissions recently made by RISA, the price differentiation gives pirates a comparative advantage over legitimate producers due to the high costs incurred by legitimate producers versus pirates. It would therefore be ideal to impose a levy on blank mediums used to copy music in order to impose a price hike even on pirated products. The ultimate legitimate product price should remain the same for consumers regardless of the similar cost hike experienced by both legitimate and pirate producers. The incentives for the legitimate producers would then translate into rebates or tax returns at the financial year end. As an extension to the proposed levy, inclusion of device and media manufacturers is needed in terms of public awareness campaigns and the associated costs. Manufacturers and retailers will be compelled to carry anti piracy messages on all products, packaging and at point of sale. This can be extended to messages included in the boot software of devices. Justification for this includes the fact that manufacturers are profiting from the consumption of illegal content. 8.4. Development of Digital Piracy Strategy Digital is undoubtedly the way the world is moving and the Music Industry is no different. Piracy in the digital realm is an immediate and very real problem. We are already losing millions of Rands to online file sharing and wireless peer to peer exchanges in public area such as schools. South Africa is in the fortunate position of lagging behind developed nations in terms of digital adoption and we have a public which is on the whole somewhat less savvy, in this regard, compared with the aforementioned nations. This situation is fast changing, however, and we find ourselves accelerating rapidly into this digital future. Only through a systemised, targeted and sustained approach to education and enforcement, backed up by solid and well enforced laws, will we make headway in the digital domain. South Africa has the opportunity to forge ahead and develop laws which leapfrog these nations and make SA a safe haven for international brands. This is essential in extending an image of dependability and developing good faith with foreign investors. 8.5. Public Education and Awareness Programmes The Public needs to be educated about various aspects within scope of the AAPS including the simple fact that piracy is, in fact, a crime. Every new system put in place to address piracy needs to be popularised for effective usage and the realisation of the intended results. People need to be familiarised with the technicalities that come with the systems, their ultimate benefits and also be cautioned about what the systems cannot offer. The programmes will also help in terms of capacity building and in giving a clear direction to all relevant custodians of law and law enforcement in order to ensure that effective cases are waged against pirates. There are likely to be various levels at which the education needs to be affected and thus various approaches will be required. Probable targets will include large scale enablers like University and businesses allowing use of their servers, physical small and large scale producers and end users. School children are to be an essential focus. All groups must be very clearly informed of the applicable punishment for their transgressions. Strong and well publicised enforcement is vital. The focus on RSA running up to 2010 will help us to engage the public. It is very important that the anti piracy message rings loud and clear lest we find ourselves the victims of mass distribution of counterfeit physical product during the World Cup. 8.6. Establishment of Social Benefits Trust The application of the blank tape/medium levy would give rise to the collection of revenue by the Department of Finance thus in the form of tax rebates from the DOF to AIRCO for their members, a certain percentage could be retained for the creation of such social benefits. The creation of social benefits would assist artists towards funeral schemes, life covers and even create an investment pool. It would be an ideal situation at some stage to formally have a system that will cater for artists monthly earnings or allowances. This could be achievable through investments that would maximise capital towards social benefits. 9. Conclusion It is the AIRCO’s ultimate goal that through the IMMU all the stakeholders will be able to internalise the battle against piracy as a collective responsibility and further develop the edge to fight it at all cost. It is in light of diminishing moral values that seek to promote a non-remorseful culture of consumption of pirated products in broad day light, that we adopt an integrated strategy that is interactive at all levels - including the general public. Hence the Integrated Multifaceted Mechanism Unit will ensure that the horizontal and vertical communication and interaction become an underlying strategy to effectively deal with issues that overlap into other structures’ mandate without any form of delay but at the same time, not losing that “all-inclusive” element. Most importantly, we will address the major question of piracy that derails growth and development within the cultural industries of music and film. The second Phase of the Project is envisaged to take place in June 2008. The Phase 2 project will concentrate on scientific innovations and technical devices aimed at preventing any form of duplication without policing. |
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The South African music industry is experiencing major challenges due to the rising scourge of piracy. Especially targeted are local productions from Independent Record Companies.
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