Burn And Get Burnt

Like every other music market in the world, New Zealand has been hit hard by piracy, the unauthorized duplication of music via downloads, file- sharing and CD-burning. But the Recording Industry Assn. of New Zealand (RIANZ) is fighting back--and is even taking an international lead with its innovative "Burn & Get Burnt" campaign.

BACKED BY ARTISTS

Last November, leading New Zealand artists joined forces with RIANZ to launch the local industry's first anti-piracy campaign, under the banner Burn & Get Burnt. With the distinctive logo appearing on CD cases, all point-of-sale material and music company advertising, the aim was to educate the public that music piracy-- particularly through the use of CD burners--is illegal.
One year later, even the most optimistic music exec would concede that CD-burning is still prevalent. But, if the flames of piracy haven't been extinguished, some small fires have been stamped out. More importantly, the New Zealand public is waking up to the fact that downloading free music or burning discs is hurting local and international artists.
RIANZ CEO Terence O'Neill-Joyce is also heartened by the fact that the New Zealand industry's campaign has inspired other territories to explore similar initiatives, following a presentation he made at an anti-piracy summit of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) in June. He believes that the reason Burn & Get Burnt has struck a chord, both in New Zealand and with other international industry bodies, is because it has been backed by the artists themselves, with leading local musicians such as Neil and Tim Finn, Che Fu, Bic Runga and Dave Dobbyn publicly lending their support to the campaign.
"I would like to think the new U.S. artist-driven campaign has at least been inspired by the New Zealand initiative," says O'Neill-Joyce. "Here, the more we talked about it, the more the local artists began to realize that CD-burning is depriving them of revenue. And, if a little country like New Zealand could get these acts together, maybe others could as well."
The difficulty comes in quantifying the campaign's success. There are no official statistics about the level of piracy in New Zealand, but RIANZ maintains it is costing the industry more than NZ$90 million (US$43 million) a year.
O'Neill-Joyce points out that there are a million blank CDs sold in the market each month. Even if only 20% of those are being used for illegal copying--he believes the percentage is much higher--that is still a significant loss of revenue.
In a survey of music buyers conducted by research company Market Pulse International in August on behalf of RIANZ, almost 20% of those polled admitted they had burned a music disc--with 3% of those saying that they had done so in order to sell it. That equates to some 10,000 Kiwis who have at some time burned a music CD for profit.
Roger Harper, chief executive of the 25-unit CD Store/PlanetJack chain, has no doubt that illegal burning is harming sales. "It's definitely made an impact, but it's impossible to quantify," he says. "There's no question that we are losing sales, and the results of RIANZ's research suggest that burning is fairly common behavior."

THE LONG HAUL

Burn & Get Burnt was designed primarily as an educational initiative, and O'Neill-Joyce is confident that the message is getting across. But now attention is switching to enforcement--because of the size of the country, there is no industry-funded anti-piracy force and music piracy is low on the priority list of the New Zealand police. However, O'Neill-Joyce believes police attitudes are slowly changing. In 2003, he is looking to initiate one case a month against illegal operators to send a clear message to music pirates that they will not be immune from prosecution.
In the meantime, the Burn & Get Burnt campaign will continue because there is still work to do. The association has already invested NZ$400,000 (US$191,588) in the campaign and a further NZ$200,000 (US$383,176) has been earmarked for 2003.
Although the Market Pulse International survey showed the campaign has raised awareness, the poll also showed that nearly one in five New Zealanders still believe it is legal to burn music for personal use.
The RIANZ message remains: If you copy CDs, you'll get your fingers burnt. "We're in it for the long haul," says O'Neill-Joyce. "I'm driving this for the industry as CEO of RIANZ, but I am someone who got into the industry by starting an independent record company back in 1968. For a lot of my life, I have been involved with and investing in performers and musicians. I'm passionate about it--and I have no sympathy at all for the guys who are ripping off the artists."