A new study of independent record confirms that independent labels face challenges in dealing with unauthorized uses of their sound recordings.
The study, conducted by American Association of Independent Music (A2IM) and Future of Music Coalition (FMC) asked independent labels, large and small, about their experiences with the notice and takedown system. Based on the responses to that survey:
• 87% of the respondents knew of online infringements of their works, even though 30% did not actively search for infringements of their works.
• 65% of the respondents who took action to have the infringing works removed from an online source reported that either it took longer than 24 hours for the infringing work to be removed or that the infringing work was never removed.
• 68% of the respondents reported that an infringing copy of their music reappeared on the same service even after that music had previously been taken down—the so-called “whack-a-mole” problem.
• 65% of those that did not actively search for unauthorized use attributed the reason to not having enough resources to search for infringing activity. In addition, 30% of the respondents also stated that they did not continue searching for infringements because previous enforcement efforts had been unsuccessful.
• The three most frequently cited obstacles faced by the respondents in enforcing their rights online include that (i) they don’t have enough resources to pursue infringement of their works. (ii) they can’t find the contact information to request takedown, (iii) the sites ignore notices or other complaints.
