In his keynote speech at the Music Matters conference in Hong Kong, IFPI CEO John Kennedy likened the problems facing the music industry to the war in Iraq and global warming.
“The war against piracy is as difficult as the war in Iraq, while the music industry is ‘melting,’ like the polar icecaps are because of global warming,” Kennedy told delegates at the conference’s May 30 opening session.
“The music industry is the engine for many other industries,” Kennedy said, “but many in government, the media and other industries don’t understand how important the music industry is.”
He said there are four solutions for dealing with the problem of piracy: education, lobbying, litigation and new business models.
Kennedy said Internet service providers bear much of the responsibility for the piracy problem. “ISPs facilitate Internet piracy by their inaction,” he said, adding that they should stop their “parasitic behavior” and shut down offending sites.