Taximg music tapers

Press, 16 August 1988, Page 20

Taximg music tapers

From a correspondent for the “Economist” in Brussels

EUROPE’S music industry is as persistent as it is profitable. Its campaign against people who like to make their own recordings at home from discs or tapes bought in the shops has led several Governments to impose or plan levies on blank tapes. In Britain, where the Government, after some wavering, eventually threw out this scheme for a tax subsidy for a wealthy industry, lobbyists have persuaded a parliamentary committee to open the door to it again. But a cold douche for the industry has now come from the European Commission. It has quietly dropped plans to impose a blank-tape levy Eurowide. And it has shot down the industry’s huge claims of sales lost from do-it-yourself copying. Lobbyists for the levy say home taping costs the industry SNZ4.B billion a year in record sales alone — an improbable SNZIS a year for every man, woman and child in the Community — plus an unspecified amount in sales of recorded tapes. The commission, in a recent paper on copyright, haz-

ards a figure, from all lost revenues combined, of SNZ2.7 billion — and even that is a maximum.

Until recently, the commission, like the industry, had favoured the idea of a levy — the industry calls it a royalty, plain English says a tax — whose proceeds would be transferred to composers, performers, artists and the companies concerned. But its paper on copyright last month indicates a change of mind. The commission now prefers to leave Governments a range of options such as national levies, “spoilers” in the tape to prevent copying, or various measures against bulk copying for commercial gain. Among European Community countries, only West Germany and France currently apply tape levies. France charges the equivalent of NZ37c on a blank 60-minute audio tape, 60c for a video one. The Germans, in contrast, are levy-happy. They load levies on to tapes, recording equipment, even photocopiers: the equivalent of SNZ2.O9 for an audio recorder plus 5c per tape,

SNZIS on a video-recorder and 13c for a tape. Spain and Portugal have enacted laws to bring in levies, but have yet to decide at what rates. Belgium, the Netherlands and Italy are talking of levies. Denmark, Greece, Ireland, Luxemburg and — so far — Britain are not.

Should there be a levy at all? Consumer interests argue not. Granted, home taping for profit clearly contravenes the Bern copyright convention. But the convention allows it for one’s own use provided it does not “conflict with normal exploitation of the work” or “unreasonably prejudice” — there’s a phrase to keep lawyers in fees — the author’s interests. One answer at least to the industry’s complaints, the use of the courts against the individual home taper, in countries where taping is unlawful, is plainly impractical. Even if they could be caught, a survey done for the commission found that a large proportion of such people are aged from 8 to 14. Copyright — The Economist.