London conference of creative industry bodies – Joint Policy Statement, May 12, 2009

1. We, the leaders of the creative industries organisations listed in Appendix 1, met in London on 12 May 2009.

2. This meeting uniquely brought together unions representing employees from the UK’s creative industries with representatives of the UK’s creative businesses. The signatories of this Statement come from across the full spectrum of the creative industries, from publishers to software and from TV and film to music, to video games, to sport.

3. The creative industries represent one of the most innovative and widely appreciated sectors of the UK economy, generating output that not only creates £112.5 billion in revenue but also entertains millions of people. The Government has estimated its contribution to UK GDP as being 8%. The wider contribution of the entertainment sector in the UK is evidenced by its role in exporting British talent across the world and hence safeguarding the country’s position as a global creative hub.

4. Importantly, the creative industries provide 1.8 million jobs in the UK across the stages of the supply chain, from production to distribution and marketing. During a time in which unemployment is rising sharply, a major priority for Government must be to work in partnership with employers in the sector in order not only to safeguard existing jobs but also to help create the environment in which businesses can flourish and new jobs can be created.

5. Across the coalition of organisations participating in the conference are represented hundreds of thousands of workers from across the creative industries of the UK. These stretch across the entire supply chain for creative content, from production to distribution and marketing.

6. Our purpose has been to provide joint advice to Government on the package of measures to be contained in the Digital Britain strategy. Specific priorities have been:

 To consider how existing jobs and output from the sector might best be safeguarded through the economic downturn and how new jobs and increased economic contribution can be generated going forward;

 To register concern about the impact of illegal online file-sharing on growth in the sector and to provide advice on solutions.

7. We welcome Government’s recognition that a major threat to the success of the industry is in the form of illegal online peer-to-peer file-sharing of content. In 2007, an estimated 98 million illegal downloads of films and more than a billion illegal downloads of music took place in the UK, whilst it is believed that 6 million people illegally file-share regularly. The impact of this on the economic output of the creative industries, investment opportunities and jobs in the sector is a serious one. A report by Europe Economics released at the end of 2008 concluded that up to 800,000 jobs in the creative industries are under threat from challenges including internet piracy and illegal P2P file-sharing.

8. The Government’s Digital Britain initiative recognises the fundamental role that the digital economy will play in the UK’s society and its prospects for growth. In that context, it is not acceptable for upwards of 50% of our digital infrastructure to be dedicated to the distribution of illegal content. Government policy must ensure that the future for broadband in the UK will be the safe and secure delivery of legal content and not the wholesale distribution of illegal content. A lawless free-for-all should not be the model for the transfer of content online in the UK.

9. We welcome Government’s assertion that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) can play a major role in working with rights-holders to tackle the illegal distribution of content over their networks. ISPs have the ability to bring about large-scale behavioural change amongst consumers who engage in illegal P2P file-sharing. Their business also stands to lose out, alongside other areas of the economy, should the flow of new content continue to be undermined by piracy.

10. We support early indications of Government’s thinking that call on ISPs to send warning notices to offenders as a first stage of tackling the problem. We strongly recommend an additional option whereby, where multiple educational warnings are ignored by consumers, a graduated series of technical solutions are used which prevent further illegal activity, with a clear appeals process in place to protect consumers. We are not suggesting that the Government prescribe any detailed technical solutions in legislation, as they may change in time as technology does. Instead, they should provide enabling legislation for the specific measures to be identified and implemented in an Industry Code of Practice and, in consultation with Ofcom, used where necessary in order to achieve the Government’s overall objective.

11. Suggestions for rights-owners to take many thousands of legal actions seeking damages against individual file-sharers in court are neither practicable nor proportionate and would create a drain on public resources.

12. P2P file-sharing has already cost jobs across the creative industries and this problem will only get worse as technology continues to advance. Decisive action, that recognises the unique role of ISPs as infrastructure owners and operators in bringing about change, is urgently needed as a central plank of the Digital Britain recommendations.

APPENDIX 1 - THE JOINT STATEMENT

This text has been agreed on behalf of:

 Alliance Against IP Theft

 The Publishers’ Association

 Producers’ Alliance for Cinema and Television

 BPI

 Directors UK

 Cinema Exhibitors’ Association

 Film Distributors’ Association

 British Video Association

 Federation Against Copyright Theft

The call is also backed by trades unions representing creative workers, including:

 Amicus/Unite

 National Union of Journalists

 Equity

 Writer’s Guild

 Musician’s Union

 Broadcasting Entertainment Cinematograph and Theatre Union