RECORD PIRACY (FROM CRIME IN SOCIETY, 1978, BY LEONARD D SAVITZ AND NORMAN JOHNSTON - SEE NCJ-53552)

• NCJ Number: 53565
• Author(s): C H MCCAGHY; R S DENISOFF
• Date Published: 1978
• Length: 18 pages
• Corporate Author: John Wiley and Sons
• Publication Format: Document
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

THE LEGISLATIVE HISTORY OF RECORD INDUSTRY EFFORTS TO PROTECT ITSELF AGAINST COPYRIGHT INTRUSIONS (RECORD PIRACY) IS DISCUSSED, ALONG WITH SEVERAL LANDMARK CASES INVOLVING SUCH VIOLATIONS.

Abstract

ALTHOUGH RECORD MANUFACTURERS HAD ARGUED OVER THE YEARS FOR COPYRIGHT EXTENSIONS TO PROTECT THEM FROM UNAUTHORIZED REPRODUCERS OF RECORDINGS AND EVEN FROM BROADCASTERS UP THROUGH 1950, RECORD PIRACY WAS COMPARATIVELY LIMITED IN BOTH SALES VOLUME AND SCOPE. THE IMMEDIATE POSTWAR PIRATES APPEALED ALMOST EXCLUSIVELY TO COLLECTORS INTERESTED IN JAZZ, BLUES, AND SWING AND THEIR PRODUCTS WERE ESSENTIALLY OBSCURE AND OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE PREWAR RECORDINGS. IN 1951, THE RECORD INDUSTRY TOOK NOTE OF A NEW PHENOMENON IN PIRACY: CURRENT HITS WERE BEING ISSUED UNDER COUNTERFEIT LABELS WITH ONE PIRATE PRESSING 50,000 RECORDS PER WEEK IN 4 PLANTS. ONCE A RECORD BECAME A HIT, ENTREPRENEURIAL PIRATES HAD ONLY TO PAY FOR THE DUPLICATION OF THE SOUND REPRODUCTION, AND BY DEALING ONLY IN PROVEN SUCCESSES, THEY WERE ASSURED A PROFIT. BY THE 1960'S, THESE PIRATES HAD ESTABLISHED THEMSELVES AS PART OF THE RECORD SCENE IN AMERICA. WHILE PIRACY HAD PREVIOUSLY BEEN RESTRICTED TO SINGLES, NOW ALBUMS BEGAN TO APPEAR; PIRATES HAD REACHED A NEW STAGE OF ORGANIZATION, AS THEY WERE NOT ONLY PRESSING RECORDS BUT ALSO MANUFACTURING ALBUM COVERS. WHILE CONGRESS AND THE RECORDING INDUSTRY WERE, OVER THE YEARS, VARIOUSLY AT ODDS OR IN AGREEMENT REGARDING LEGISLATION EFFECTIVE ENOUGH TO DEAL WITH THE PROBLEMS OF PIRACY, IT WAS NOT UNTIL THE 1970'S THAT THE INDUSTRY WAS CAPABLE OF WIELDING CONSIDERABLE LEGISLATIVE INFLUENCE. BY 1971, THE RECORD INDUSTRY SURPASSED $1.25 BILLION, AND BESET BY SOARING LEVELS OF PIRACY AND WITH A FORMIDABLE COALITION CONSISTING OF VARIOUS TRADE ASSOCIATIONS--THE AMERICAN FEDERATION OF MUSICIANS, THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF RECORD MERCHANDISERS, AND OTHERS--PROPONENTS OF COPYRIGHT REVISION PREVAILED, PAVING THE WAY FOR FUTURE, SUCCESSFUL ATTACKS ON RECORD PIRATES. REFERENCES ARE INCLUDED.