Pop stars demand copyright protection

The Corrs seek EU protection against music downloads

LONDON, England -- A group of top pop stars have written to Euro MPs urging copyright protection from large-scale free distribution of their work via the Internet.

Sting, Ronnie Wood, Dave Stewart, the Corrs and Westlife are among stars seeking guarantees that their works are properly protected in the digital era.

The move comes on the eve of a crucial vote in the European Parliament in Strasbourg. MEPs will vote on Wednesday on the EU Copyright Directive, designed to extend protection to the Internet and digital television.

The draft legislation allows libraries, museums and schools to copy material for public use, but the key is the future of private copying of music and films.

ALSO Napster: Stealing or sharing?

Earlier this week a U.S. court effectively ordered the closure of Napster, the Internet song-swapping service.

A coalition of more than 30 music industry organisations representing publishers, performers, authors, musicians, visual artists and film makers are lobbying the European Commission and MEPs.

The entertainment industry says it is not just representing multi-millionaire stars who can well afford to allow their works to be downloaded without payment, but lesser artists on whom the long-term future of the industry depends.

Sales warning

The music industry's umbrella group, the International Federation of Phonographic Industries, argues that free access to "intellectual property" such as original music harms rising artists.

It has warned that the proposed EU legislation does not offer tight enough safeguards against a copying free-for-all that will cause a slump in the long term in CD sales and film receipts at the box office.

An IFPI spokesman in Strasbourg said: "Europe's emerging information society is more than new equipment and networks, its about the content that is accessed through that new technology: what consumers see, read, listen to and enjoy.

"The creative sector is enthusiastic about working to provide consumers with the richness and diversity of European culture.

"But at the same time, it must continue to be rewarded for the effort they put into creating those works.

"Creators urgently need a fair set of rules to protect their works from abuse in the digital era. Otherwise, creative works will fall victim to mass-scale, unauthorised copying."

Sir George Martin, the former EMI producer who steered the Beatles through the recording studios, is backing the musicians' campaign.

He joins a list of hundreds of acclaimed artists from across Europe have written to the European Parliament asking MEPs to back "culture and creativity" when they vote..

Among them are Nobel-prize winning authors Seamus Heaney from Ireland and Josi Saramago from Portugal, Italian actors Roberto Benigni and Sophia Loren, and leading figures from the classical music world such as Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli.

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