[RobDickinson]

general@bpi.co.uk

rant away - I have.

Between CD-wow and copy protection I'm all in for mp3/p2p now.

Thanks for the address!

I've just sent the following:

Dear Sir/Madam,

I'm very disappointed with the BPI's attitude to online retailers. Your action against CDwow (and proposed actions against other reputable online retailers) seems to amount to little more than price fixing.

CDwow provide an excellent service, and I use them a fair bit. I also use HMV in the high street, and several other online retailers. It seems ridiculous, in a time when the record industry is paranoid about mp3s and pirating, that you should choose to effectively take action against those of us who choose to buy proper, legitimate CDs. I have read that it is an issue of 'copyright': how can this be so, if these retailers are selling legitimate, original CDs? This sounds more like an excuse to rip off the consumer.

I normally buy between 5 and 10 CDs a month. I shall be joining the current campaign, which proposes to boycott the purchase of ANY CD for the month of February.

Please stop victimising honest consumers who only want to pay a fair price for their albums.

[chris110]

I sent an email yesterday, but it was to a different address,i will be emailing this one when i get the oppertunity. We have to all elt them know how we feel.

[Piya]

Sent the following email to them this morning:

"Dear Sir
It's wrong to force CD-Wow to increase the price to UK consumers. Rip-off Britain again, isn't it. I'll boycott the music buying until this silly action is revoked."

[MartinImber]

I emailed them yesterday.

I NEVER pay over £10 for a CD

[CLH]

E-mailed them two weeks ago! No reply mind.

[William123]

I've sent them a total of 20 emails over the last couple of weeks on this and other matters...not one single reply, not surprised really.

They can stick their restrictive distribution tactics up their corporate arses........sideways

[Radiohead]

I sent this yesterday, but knowing the arrogance of the industry we're dealing with I don't expect a response:

"I am stunned to read of your settlement with CD-Wow. As you will know this will force them to add a surcharge of £2 to each CD shipped to a UK buyer, resulting in UK consumers paying more for your often over-priced products.

It seems that you and the music industry are not happy with just criminalising legitimate consumers by enforcing low-rent copy protection systems and thereby dictating where we can play the product we have purchased, now you are actively engaging in protectionism and thus raising prices.

Does it not seem obvious that in doing so CD-Wow, and as a result the music industry, will suffer reduced sales - at the very time that you and your legions of hand-wringers are bleating about falls in sales. By increasing prices and offering consumers less choice you will serve only to increase the numbers of people downloading music via P2P applications, a good number of them in protest at your ludicrously misguided actions.

Here's an idea - stop paying your creatively bankrupt executives inflated salaries and stop trying to create immediate hit acts for a short-term profit. Start thinking about the changing face of music consumption, react to it in imaginative ways and allow decent acts time to develop before discarding them after 1 album and dropping £50m on some half-baked boy band. Look at your pricing models and realise that they're woefully out of date - £9.99 for a CD on the High Street is a fair price, £13.99 certainly isn't (step forward HMV and Virgin). £7.99 is a fair price for a CD bought online - well, it was before your myopic acts closed off that particular avenue.

The BPI once sued radio stations for playing music in the 1920's - have you learnt nothing? The mind truly boggles.

Yours in despair"

Sent the following myself and will continue to do so each time I make a new purchase:


Dear Sir / Madam,

Just a brief note to let you know that I (and probably thousands of others) will never again purchase a CD manufactured within the EU.

The BPI's actions over recent weeks and months stink of price-fixing. I have recently found a legal download site, based outside the EU and I will be purchasing all music from that site in the future . The artists will still get their royalties but the BPI won't get a penny. I shall of course be giving the address of this website to as many people as I can.

Any music I cannot find on this particular website I will purchase from US online stores.

I shall email you regularly to let you know what music I have purchased and to give you a running total on how much of my money has gone to the BPI.

The BPI's arrogance will be its' downfall.

Yours sincerely,

Ratso

PS. I've just bought two 'Rory Gallagher' CDs from the download site for approximately £1.50. Total to the BPI: £0.00



I don't have much faith that it will make much difference though.

Ratso

It's good to see people actually taking a stand. I hope people also back up their emails where it counts... on the bottom line, by not buying CDs at inflated prices.

[figrin_dan]

Originally posted by ratso-rizzo
I shall of course be giving the address of this website to as many people as I can.

PM please
Cheers.

[edz]

another PM please...

[Mr Cat]

yeah, I've just e-mailed them too...mind, I've just pasted one one of your emails above!!

Originally posted by figrin_dan
PM please
Cheers.

It's well documented in this thread:ITunes V's napster v's Musicmatch

Ratso

[alexs2]

I've also added my penny's worth,but would be stunned if any reply was sent to me.

When emailing the BPI it may be worth sending a copy to The Office of Fair Trading.

After all, they are mean't to be looking after consumers!

I've looked on their web site and I think this might be the guy to contact.

daniel.gordon@oft.gsi.gov.uk

[William123]

As I have stated earlier, I've sent the BPI over 25 emails now over a period of 14 days concerning not only their recent action against CDWOW and the buying public.To this date they have not replied to any of them. Apart from them being morally debased, their customer service attitute sucks.

I approached the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) to see what, if anything, could be done in the way of submiting a formal complaint against the British "Phony"graphic Institute (BPI) on the grounds of an investigation into their dubious tactics during 2000/2001 to which the OFT then made a statement which included the quote.

""The major record companies - an international showcase for British talent - must not create barriers to international competition that harm British consumers," said John Vickers, director general of Fair Trading.

"Free competition is the way forward, and the industry is on notice that the OFT will act if anti-competitive agreements are found in the future."



This was in relation to five major record companies subsidising record shops to keep prices artifically high...in other words price fixing.

My point being that the BPI were at it again..... denying customers from buying at a fair price from an online retailer selling legitimate goods.....not pirated stuff............this is their reply to my letter sent today.



Thank you for your recent email concerning "CD-Wow" and its parallel importation of music compact discs into the UK from Asia.

It is the responsibility of the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) to enforce Competition Law (the Competition Act 1998) within the United Kingdom. From 1 May 2004 the OFT will also enforce EC Competition Law.

Our understanding of the situation which you have referred to is that:

* CD-Wow was 'parallel' importing CDs into the UK from Asia; and

* BPI was proposing to take CD-Wow to court for alleged infringement of UK copyright law.

(Parallel importing refers to a situation where a record company sells a CD in one country to someone who then exports it to another for resale.)

Record companies own certain "Intellectual Property Rights" (IPRs) in relation to CDs or other music formats that they produce and/or distribute. These rights are likely to be protected by UK Copyright Law and give the producer/distributor distribution rights that allow them to control parallel importing from outside of the European Economic Area (EEA).

The OFT takes the view that it is unlikely that record companies would infringe UK competition law by enforcing their rights under copyright law to prevent parallel imports from outside the EEA.

This would not be the case if the products were being parallel imported from within the EEA as under European Law once a CD is put on the EEA market with the right holder's consent all rights to control distribution further are lost (referred to as 'Exhaustion of Rights').

The OFT has previously issued a warning to UK record producers that it will act if evidence is found that attempts have been made to frustrate cross border trade. This is an area of commerce that the OFT continues to monitor. Further details regarding this can be found on our website at:
http://www.oft.gov.uk/News/Press+rel...ay+in+line.htm

I hope that this information has been of assistance to you.

Yours sincerely,

John Trippier

[chris110]

Interesting read. I cant help thinking that there is some small loophole that companies like CD Wow can exploit which envolve the "exhaustion of rights" whereby the products are first sold in the EU. Maybe im just being too optimistic

[chris110]

NEED TO ADD:

Just found this, lets try and get the word around http://www.petitiononline.com/mwo/

[William123]

Thanks for that link Chris....done it

[nutcase_1uk]

I wrote them an email a couple of weeks ag (BPI). No response of course.

Think I shall now buy all my CD's from somewhere else other than the UK. And I shall tell them that.

[johnscarlet]

Signed up as well