Private copying remuneration: More relevant in today’s digital world than ever – PCR matters #1
At the end of November, the European Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee will vote on an opinion on private copying levies, also known as private copying remuneration (PCR). Ahead of this vote, authorsocieties.eu is launching a series of posts called ‘PCR matters’ that will explain why you should care about private copying levies. This week we tell you why private copying levies are more relevant in today’s digital world than ever.
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Key facts 26% of the UK population listens to music stored on their mobile, and this percentage increases to 40% for people between 25 and 34 years old and to 56% for people between 16 and 24 years old[1] In France, a 2011 survey on the use of memory cards shows that music represents approximately 21% of the content storage in memory cards[2] |
Private copying levies are a small sum included in the price of recording devices, which is redistributed to authors to compensate for their works being copied for private use (for example when you make a copy of a song on another device than the one you originally purchased it on).
Copying films, books, music and other works of art for private use is something we all do and want to continue to do without limitation. We listen to music on our smart phones, read books on our tablets, watch films on our computers. In recent years, our consumption of electronic devices has sky-rocketed. Some of us even spend more of our money purchasing electronic devices than on food!
These devices would be empty shells if they were not used to store creative works such as films, television series, books, magazines, and music. This is why it is only fair that a tiny fraction of the price of the devices that are used for storing and sharing the content we all love is used to compensate artists for making copies of their work in a private context.
The next post in our ‘PCR matters’ series will explain to you how private copying remuneration contributes to a thriving European cultural digital economy. Stay tuned.
More about our views on private copying remuneration: