Free is Best Way to Make Music Piracy Redundant

Free is Best Way to Make Music Piracy Redundant

LONDON, June 16/PRNewswire/ --

- 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 (http://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 http://://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@corixa.co.uk

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