Downloads, piracy blamed for decline

J'can CD sales fall worldwide - Downloads, piracy blamed for decline
published: Sunday | October 12, 2008
Sadeke Brooks, Gleaner Writer

Bootleg CDs like those above, which were among pirated material seized during a sting operation by the Flying Squad in May 2007, have been blamed for some of the downturn in sales.

The sales of Jamaican music CDs worldwide are declining, with Internet access and piracy major contributing factors.

With the great increase in Internet access, the sale of actual CDs has been declining significantly. In addition, with the easy access to pirated music (bootlegs), fewer people are buying CDs and vinyl.

Bobby Clarke, CEO of Irie Jam Media, said "I am very sure the music sales are going down. Record stores in New York are closing down, CD sales are ridiculously low and reggae as a genre is down 50 per cent. With the advent of Itunes and bootleg, it is hard for someone to go into a store and buy a CD."

Economic downturn
Bobby Clarke of Irie Jam Media notes that Super Power Records in New York, a supplier of Caribbean music, closed as a result of the economic downturn in the United States and the decline in CD sales.

Yolan Zanders, marketing manager for VP Records Jamaica, said several factors contribute to the decline in Jamaican music CD sales, such as the recession in the United States and easy access to downloaded music.

However, she does not believe Jamaica is the only country feeling this musical pinch.

"It (music sales) has been decreasing. It's not just reggae music alone," she told The Sunday Gleaner.

Sales declining globally
Globally, CD sales do seem to be declining. In the recnt article 'CD sales falling faster than digital music sales rise' in the International Herald Tribune, it was reported that CD sales have fallen to their lowest level in 10 years, while digital distribution and piracy were increasing.

It read: "Global music sales dropped 8 per cent to US$19.4 billion in 2007, according to a report from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. Revenue came in at its slowest pace since at least 1997, the first year for which the body issued figures. Physical sales of CDs and DVDs fell 13 per cent to US$15.9 billion. Sales of downloaded songs and mobile-phone ringtones rose 34 per cent to US$2.9 billion."

Zanders said she has spoken to persons in Europe who believe that dancehall music is fading there and this might account for the decrease in sales. However, she believes dancehall has the ability to bounce back from its current downturn.

"Sometimes dancehall dies and then it gets back. That's the trend that I've seen in our music. I don't think it's something that is dead or will ever be dead," said Zanders.

Major problem
Reggae artiste Da'Ville said his music is doing well around the world, especially in Japan, where he will release his album called ItchibanHowever, he believes piracy is the major cause for the decrease in the sale of Jamaican music.

"The bootleg a di number one thing weh a mash up the music. When you do an album you invest a lot," he told The Sunday Gleaner. "So when people bootleg is like dem a tek a thing out of yuh pocket. Sales are decreasing significantly and everytime a man bootleg, is one less record sold."

Internet and piracy
Copeland Forbes says that much of the Jamaican music being produced now is not geared towards the international market.

Copeland Forbes, tour organiser, promoter, consultant and artiste manager, acknowledged that the Internet and piracy are causing a decline in the sale of Jamaican music CDs. However, he said there are other causes, such as the lack of a worldwide record distributor and insufficient marketing for Jamaican music.

He said there is a craving for Jamaican music in the Southern Hemisphere (including Australia and New Zealand) and some Middle Eastern and Asian countries. However, he said, there are few distributors in these areas. In some of these countries, Forbes said, the people only have access to music from Bob Marley, Lee 'Scratch' Perry and Lucky Dube, coming directly from Europe.

'Not making money'
"Artistes are not making money from record sales. They are making money from live performances," said Forbes, who has been in the music industry for 47 years. "Music is not selling in America. Europe is a more vibrant market for our music."

But Forbes has another problem.

"The material that we are putting out is that which suits us and not the international market. The lyrics are too colloquial," he told The Sunday Gleaner. "Our artistes need to make the music more understandable, so that the international market can relate to it. If they can't relate to it they are not going to buy it."

Nonetheless, Forbes believes Jamaican music is vibrant and has the potential to grow. However, he said more managers, producers and writers are needed in the business. And there is a very important, intangible factor.

"We don't feel the love in the music. It is just hostile. Most of the music is disposable. We need to put out better music, so we can stand side-to-side with the rest of the world," Forbes said.

Now people who know me know that I always say that artistes don't make their money on sales. They make money touring and with all of the clothing lines and memorabilia. If you read this you will see why SOCA music will suffer even more. We never had a STAR like Bob Marley to take our music with a universal message. Yet we continue to clamour for Billboard and Grammy recognition with SOCA as a musical genre. LISTEN to what Forbes said...

"The material that we are putting out is that which suits us and not the international market.

The lyrics are too colloquial,"

If we only continue to cater to the West Indian diaspora and the international Carnival lovers who have learned to appreciate the music then the music may well be destined to become extinct. Chutney music may well surpass SOCA music because they may do well in the Indian sub-continent as they also sing in Hindi.

The belief in the music has to start at home. Not everyone knows how to get music illegally from the internet. and not everyone can afford the investment either. So if we get the pirates off the streets and out of the plazas and 'malls' we will be starting something. If we also enforce a 50/50 mandate on radio stations at least we will know what our locals have to offer. the URBAN radio frequencies may sound more Trinbagonian instead of Jamaican or American.

audiomaxxx.com

RCMP Raid Shuts Down Massive Alleged Music Counterfeiting Operation in Winnipeg, Following Investigation by Canadian Recording Industry Association
Toronto, Mar 06, 2008

Police file criminal charges against four people and seize more than 200,000 music CDs and DVDs

Following a year-long investigation by the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA), the RCMP has shut down Audiomaxxx.com Ltd., a major alleged music counterfeiting operation in Winnipeg, and filed criminal charges against four individuals.

Raj Singh Ramgotra, the principal behind Audiomaxxx, was among those arrested during a raid yesterday at the organization, which for three years has allegedly manufactured pirated compact discs and hard core pornographic videos, and distributed them throughout Canada, the U.S., Europe and Jamaica. More recently, Audiomaxxx's offerings have also included allegedly pirated digital downloads.

In addition to the arrests, police seized an enormous volume of suspected counterfeit goods. This includes more than 200,000 music CDs and DVDs, numerous movie DVDs and hundreds of thousands of blank discs. Police also seized five CD/DVD burning towers, each with 12 burners, which together are capable of burning well in excess of 10,000 CDs and DVDs a day. The raid also netted several computers and hard drives, two commercial CD printers, four colour copiers and other office equipment.

In the past 10 years, the raid closest in scale to the action against Audiomaxxx involved the seizure of about 10,000 counterfeit music CDs and DVDs - one-twentieth the volume netted yesterday.
More than 10 police officers were involved in yesterday's raid.

"We sincerely thank the RCMP officers who have worked so hard to bring Audiomaxxx to heel, and to the federal prosecutors who have worked closely with them," said Graham Henderson, President of the Canadian Recording Industry Association. "Today's arrests send out a clear message that commercial piracy will no longer be tolerated in Canada."

Audiomaxxx is suspected of being one of Canada's leading music counterfeiters. In Toronto alone, approximately 30 percent of the pirated CDs seized allegedly originate from the operation. CRIA estimates that, at minimum, Audiomaxxx has been shipping tens of thousands of allegedly pirated CDs each month.

CRIA has received dozens of complaints concerning the operation from artists, music associations and music labels around the world, including numerous small, independent labels. In the past, when faced with demands by rights holders to cease its activities, Audiomaxxx has consistently ignored the demands or failed to fully comply.

The operation appears to be highly developed, with a significant catalogue of allegedly pirated CDs and music downloads offered for sale via the website www.audiomaxxx.com, including copies of tracks by famous artists like Shania Twain, Lionel Richie, Jay-Z, Mary J. Blige and Nelly Furtado.

"The RCMP has again demonstrated that it stands side by side with artists and rights holders in the fight against intellectual property crime," said Randy Lennox, President and CEO of Universal Music Canada Ltd. and Chairman of CRIA. "CRIA has a longstanding partnership with the RCMP and other police forces in fighting piracy, and today we have taken a big step together to stop one of the most flagrant examples of its kind in Canada."

Audiomaxxx's alleged piracy affects not just famous artists, but also new and independent artists - largely in the reggae, soca and hip-hop community - who are struggling to build careers. For example, Vancouver's Utopia Records, one of the many independent labels to voice concerns, has seen new artist albums appear on the Audiomaxxx website on the day an album is released in stores or even before the legitimate launch date.

"The harm done by music piracy is especially troubling when it undermines a promising artist's burgeoning career," Henderson said. "We will continue to work with police and lawmakers to give these artists, and the organizations behind them, the opportunity to succeed."

CRIA began investigating Audiomaxxx as part of an ongoing program to deter music counterfeiting and piracy. The operation came to CRIA's attention because of the large volume of suspected counterfeit products openly offered for sale on the Internet and the owner's failure to stop selling these products after the issuance of cease-and-desist orders.

Since CRIA began dedicated anti-counterfeiting operations more than a year ago, the association and police have seized more than 400,000 CDs and issued 80 cease-and-desist orders against retailers of illicitly copied music. The Impact of Piracy and Counterfeiting on Canadian Artists and Rights Holders

Piracy and counterfeiting exact a steep toll on artists and rights holders in Canada. This is reflected in significant music sales declines since the advent of widespread unauthorized file-swapping in 1999 and the proliferation of CD and music DVD counterfeiting in recent years. In that time, retail sales of pre-recorded audio products (CDs, digital tracks, etc.) declined by 47 percent, from $1.3 billion in 1999 to $703.7 million in 2006.

For the 11 months ended November 2007, net wholesale shipments of CDs, music DVDs, and other "physical" recorded music formats dropped 16 percent to 37.9 million units from 45.1 million units in the year-earlier period, while the related net wholesale value dropped 20 percent to $382.4 million from $476.3 million.

A 2007 national POLLARA survey found that purchases of counterfeit goods such as music CDs displace legitimate commerce. About half of those who bought counterfeit music, movies or software would have purchased the genuine version had they not purchased a copy (for music, the figure was 43 percent; movies, 45 percent; and software, 44 percent).

Sources...
newswire.ca
CRIA
CTV

Elephant Man - Let's get PIRATED

After posting about reggaecounty.com i visited and found this interview that was done with Elephant Man. At the time of the interview 13 tracks off his upcoming album had not yet been leaked onto the internet. Also, they were not yet advised that the album launch/release had already been pushed back to November...

I was told this by a BadBoy after I commented on how weak the album tracks were. Guess who was surprised to learn that the tracks were leaked, considering he had only got the mastered versions a couple of hours before. I also learned that the delay had nothing to do with this leak but BadBoy's need to promote another one of their artists at this time.

So, the pirates strike again and Elephant gets a chance to actually have better tracks on the album this November.

High energy Elephant Man is shaking things up on his upcoming album entitled "Let's Get Physical". After a couple of false starts trying to reach the “energy god" I was able to amass a tiny peak of information on what to expect from Ele on his upcoming album.

“Suh how u do?” I began, "I'm sure your schedule is just as you like it--hectic and full of comings and goings?” I added, especially as I knew that he had missed his flight to NYC earlier that week.

“Yeah…You know it hectic, but we have to find time for you to deal wit’ it!” Ele responded---I didn’t need to be told twice that time was precious!
Born O'Neil Bryan—from the Seaview Gardens area in Kingston, Elephant Man, 34, aka “Energy god”, came onto the dancehall scene as a member of Scare Dem Crew. After leaving Scare Dem back in 1999 he signed a 3 album deal with Greensleeves from which we got Comin' 4 You --touted as one of the of the most consistent and pure dancehall albums at the time, followed by Log on and Higher Level. But the album most noteworthy to date is Good 2 Go (VP/Atlantic)—that made 2003 a breakthrough year for Ele with dancehall tracks such as Signal De Plane, Jook Gal and Pon de River for which he received a Source Award for Dancehall/Reggae Artist of the Year.

The new album, Let’s Get Physical, in stores August 14, 2007, a collaborative effort between VP and Bad Boy Records is according to Ele, “what the world has been waiting for…this is the many moods of Elephant now—when them hear this, them going to say—WOW--we never look for Elephant to come this way.”

The first single off the album “Five-O”, with Wyclef Jean featuring Diddy, a non energetic style song—but in its way still exuding Elephant’s energy--is a departure from the new-dance vibe that we have come to expect from this authentic dancehall dj. But, his approach was to come with something totally different—unpredictable.

“[Because of] the last album “Good to Go” everybody [is now] coming to expect me to do dancing, or girl- jump-around… [it] deh pon the album but me come different…because—you can’t get up and repeat y’self every minute...” Ele went on to mention that although there are up-tempo dancehall tracks on the album, he didn’t want it to be the first single. The album also features songs such as Jump, in collaboration with Swizz Beatz, Throw your hands up featuring Rihanna and our own Shaggy will be featured on the remix of The way we roll.

With a line-up of collaborations on the album that could almost suggest it’s a hip hop album--Busta Rhymes, Swizz Beatz, Yung Joc, Rihanna, Mya, among others I had to express a concern that perhaps the album may have too much of a hip hop feel…

“The riddim we put the hip hop artists on is dance hall—that’s the trick of it.” Ele explained, “Remember seh a dancehall we a represent u nuh—u see me! …[We] went into the studio—we did some exclusives, nuthin’ regular [that] you hear pon no radio … you can hear [the album] an’ know seh Elephant went into the studio an’ do some work!… We have the other artists like Mya and Rihanna them to give [the album] the flavor to carry it to the next level—u understand—yeah!” Nuff said!

Not to be outdone with the latest dances that is synonymous with dance hall riddims, Ele says that you can look to see new dances such as, Cut dem off, Tek weh u self, Three-step and Move. For those who are not into doing the latest dances, Ele also has, in addition to Five-O, a song called, Gangsta Rock that was written for all the original bad man types who only rock to music.
Aside from the energy that we have come to expect from dance hall djs such as Ele who set the tone for how we dance when we’re ready to party, is the unforgettable sense of style that dance hall brings; and for this, Ele has become a stand-out dance hall fashion icon. He prides himself with staying true to what epitomizes dance hall thanks to Shabba Ranks, whom he admires. With this in mind I asked Ele to give us some requirements for women and men to pull off the authentic dance hall look. Below Ele has given us the must-have basics.

Ladies…keep it nice and clean.

Nice hairstyle
Manicure and pedicure
A nice necklace
The ears must have the bling
Nice shoes
Designer dress

Men…to impress the ladies the must-haves are:

Nice pinky ring
Nice watch that stands out to represent the bling
Color--show some colors—very important in the dance hall scene…and you’re good to go.

There is no stopping Ele with this album. He promises it’s going to be his best album yet, not only is it a classic, it’s crazy, according to Ele. Look out for Elephant Man on Tour this coming September and for those who will be in Jamaica for Reggae Sumfest this month—when I asked Ele if he was going to be there, his response was, “Yeah Mon!”

Pirates (again)

I am still in disbelief as to how fast they truely operate. They work on Radio and in the Studios of the riddim producers.

I've been shopping around a particular riddim and finally got some takers late 2006/early 2007. The tracks got recorded and they haven't been to COTT officially either but they all over the file sharing networks. When I first saw it I was a bit amused; cause I did not receive my copy yet. I made the relevant calls as to who got the release on Ash Wednesday and realized that the leak didn't come from the Mastering studio but more likely from a radio station.

For those of you who are accustomed to using these file sharing networks as a means of getting your music you might have an idea as to what I am referring to when I talk about the NFO (info) file of a release. Here is a sample that has been edited...

Title:.......... ()*$& &@^ Riddim
Artist:......... VA
Language:....... English
Label:..........
Genre:.......... Reggae
Tracks:......... 13
Size:........... 58,0 MB
Quality:........ VBRkbit 44.1kHz
Playtime:....... 40:35 min

Ripper ......... HLC 2K7
Supplier .........
Songs .......... 13
Rip Date ......... 03-01-2007
Source ......... CDDA
Street Date ...... 00-00-0000
Mode ........... Joint-Stereo
Label ...........

The Label information was not 100% accurate and this is how I have confirmation that a radio station actually leaked the riddim. The original information did not include the labels/production houses involved. This leak comes from the first set of discs that were sent to the radio stations. A subsequent release that was dispatched one day later actually has more tracks... and there are more tracks to come. This is also just one incarnation of the riddim release that I've seen online.

In the past I've often heard various artists/producers say that its the pirates that play their music on the street and then radio discovers them. But when you send your music to the radio station and instead of playing it they pirate it and put it on the street, it doesn't make sense. These same radio stations then play it on radio when the listeners clamour for it to be heard. These are the same radio stations that SWITCH on Ash Wednesday.

One of the radio stations actually involved want some of the songs for legitimate sale on a website. I have no problems with that request but how can they guarantee that I will see any of the profits from this when members of their staff are actively pirating/sharing this same music all over the internet.

Who remember this post pirates-of-caribbean.

It fall in meh garden and the same thing I said then is the same thing I say now.

The guy in the picture is one of those pirates stupid enough to have their picture within their file sharing profile.

It NOT RIGHT!