The BPI has stepped up its country-wide action on music piracy to coincide with the busy Christmas period, conducting over 20 major raids and seizing over £2,500,000 worth of illegal material in the process. Further raids are planned at 10 more secret locations before the end of the year.
The festive season is by far the busiest for the recorded music industry, with over 40% of albums sold in the final quarter. As the industry lines up its big releases for the Christmas period, music pirates are quick to react with counterfeits of the latest best-selling compilations and new releases flooding the counterfeits market.
The anti-piracy unit, collaborating with Police and other enforcement bodies across the UK started the crackdown with a raid on a well-known market trader in Liverpool on the last day of November. Other major results followed with raids in north Lanarkshire & Stranraer in Scotland, Wembley, Caerphilly in south Wales, County Durham and many other locations across the UK.
The Scottish raid has been the most successful of the campaign so far, with Police intercepting a van containing thousands of factory-produced counterfeits destined for Glasgow’s notorious Barras market. Further investigations led to the arrest of two men and the closure of the source factory. Two vans were seized, along with copying equipment and over 35,000 illegally manufactured CDs.
BPI Director of Anti-Piracy David Martin said, "We are usually working flat out at this time of the year and this year is no different. I am expecting to hit further targets in the next few weeks to hopefully reduce the availability of pirated product on the streets."
For more information please contact David Martin or Sarah Roberts at the BPI on 020 7803 1300.
If members of the public see evidence of pirated music, software or videos they should call the confidential Copyright Advice & Anti-Piracy Hotline on 0845 6034567
