Pirate Party Australia today fired its latest salvo in the copyright war by endorsing the spoof video Deliberate Pirate made by party member and activist, Simon Frew, in response to the Intellectual Property Awareness Foundation’s latest campaign ‘Accidental Pirate’. The video squarely takes aim at those behind the campaign, emploring big media to get with the times and stop the confrontational approach with ISPs and music fans.
Pirate Party activist and artist behind the film, Simon Frew said “we were mocking the accidental pirate campaign for its amatuer production values and patronising tone. It was such a joke that the video quite literally wrote itself. The view that file sharing is harming the entertainment industry is not borne out by statistics, and big media conglomerates crying poor is quite frankly laughable.”
Mr Frew, a musician and composer by profession is at the coalface in the new media landscape. “There are sharp lines drawn in the industry. For example, signing up to Australian Performing Rerforming Rights Association creates issues with my music being released on Creative Commons, so I can’t become a member. Like the vast majority of artists, I dont suffer from file sharing, I suffer from anonymity. Distributing my music for free gives me a greater chance of becoming liked and paid for live gigs, which has been where musicians have made most of their money throughout history.”
Recent trends show that the music industry is stronger than ever, with more money going to artists as a proportion of total income than in the past when the major labels had a stranglehold on distribution. The major labels are taking a hit in their profits, but artists are making more money, getting a higher proportion of distribution income through online sales and making more from live performances.1
A more official response to IPAF’s escapades may be released in the coming days. Stay tuned!