Free is Best Way to Make Music Piracy Redundant

LONDON - We7 Champions Music Streaming in the Mainstream to Beat UK’s GBP120bn Piracy Problem

Two in three (64%) Brits are illegally listening to and sharing music online because they do not know how to do so legally, according to research by British online jukebox We7.

Educating and raising awareness of what is legal and what is not online, as well as providing a music choice that is free to consumers is the best way to beat piracy, according to We7 (www.we7.com). The Government’s Digital Britain report launched today highlights the importance of developing new business models for digital music, but is expected to stop short of recommending how to truly protect the value of music in the digital world.

We7, the UK’s first digital jukebox, supported by Peter Gabriel, is championing music streaming as a mainstream solution to music piracy. We7 has the support of all four major record labels - Sony Music Group, Warner Music, EMI and Universal - as well as an increasing number of independents including PIAS and Beggars.

Stream not steal

95% of all digital music accessed is reported to be unauthorised (IFPI’s Digital Music Report 2009) and Strategic Advisory Board for Intellectual Property has put a GBP120bn price tag on the cost of this to the UK industry.

We7’s study of over 2,000 music fans reveals that consumers are open to ‘paying’ for the music they listen to online by offering their eyes and ears to advertisers:

- 85% were happy to listen to a short ad in exchange for unlimited access to free music that they can share with others - 94% say they would choose a legal music site over a pirate one if it had the same range of music and was easy to use

Making it mainstream

Currently, there is both an age and gender divide in those who stream and those who don’t with 86% of all those who do not understand what music streaming is being female or over the age of 55. We7 believes that reaching these audiences and making streaming mainstream will be crucial in the fight against music pirates.

With over 4 million licensed tracks ready to be listened to at the click of a mouse, We7 CEO Steve Purdham explains why streaming has the power to overthrow the pirates: “To beat piracy, we’ve simply created a better kind of free in the same way the way terrestrial radio did back in the Sixties. For the music industry, we believe the answer to eradicating the need for piracy is to offer great services which give consumers what they want and raise awareness of what’s legal and illegal by educating and raising awareness.”

Share and win

To raise awareness of legal music consumption & sharing, We7 is incentivising anyone and everyone to create a seven-track playlist of the songs that define their life in music. The online jukebox’s ‘Me7′ competition will give away GBP1,000 a week for 4 weeks for the most popular and shared playlists with a GBP3,000 grand prize for the most shared list across the whole month. The Me7 competition goes live on the 24th June.

For more information about We7, music streaming and the Me7 competition visit ://www.we7.com

For further information, or to request an interview with Steve Purdham, please contact Rhiannon Prince on +44-(0)117-949-3394 / +44-(0)7985-373098 rhiannon.prince@corixa.co.uk

Source: We7

For further information, or to request an interview with Steve Purdham, please contact Rhiannon Prince on +44-(0)117-949-3394 / +44-(0)7985-373098, rhiannon.prince at corixa.co.uk