UK consumers could pay MP3 tax

...If the music industry has its way

Andrea-Marie Vassou, Computeract!ve 22 Apr 2008

UK consumers could end up being taxed for using their MP3 players.

The Music Business Group (MBG) is calling for compensation for copyright holders if people transfer music to multiple devices.

At the moment millions of people in the UK routinely break the law when they copy music tracks from CDs and transfer them to portable music players.

People who acquire all their music from legal downloads services will also be stung if the tax goes ahead. They will have to pay to download a track and again when they buy a new device to download it to.

When reviewing digital copyright laws for the Government, Andrew Gower recommended that the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 should be changed.

In his Intellectual Property review he wanted consumers to have a fair use exemption.

However the MBG, an umbrella group of trade bodies representing music managers, songwriters, publishers and performers, said this wasn’t fair to rights holders.

It said: “Last year alone, over 20 million MP3-capable portable devices were sold in the UK, and over 90 per cent of music on the average MP3 player is music that has been copied. UK creators and right holders are legally entitled to benefit from this value.”

It hasn’t said how much extra it wants consumers to pay for new MP3 players but has said the levy should be decided by the music industry and device makers rather than Government.

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