News
February 17, 2022 | Press Statements
Biden Administration Calls Out Foreign Digital Services that Steal American Music
Washington, D.C. (February 17, 2022) – Today the United States Trade Representative (USTR) released its annual Notorious Markets Report highlighting illicit services that threaten the American music community and other creators. Below is a quote from Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) Senior Vice President, International Policy, George York on the report:
“We are tremendously grateful to Ambassador Tai and the entire USTR team as well as their interagency colleagues for this critical report that underscores how copyright piracy around the world undermines the U.S. comparative advantage in creativity to the detriment of American workers and causes significant financial losses for U.S. copyright holders and creators. The digital services identified in today’s report are profoundly harmful not only to the American music community, but to the U.S. economy and the good jobs, wages, and growth our community provides.”
“We welcome in particular the report’s prioritization of the types of theft that target the music community and do considerable harm to creators, including pre-release piracy and stream-ripping. While the report focuses on several infringing services for music in Europe, including in Russia, this is a critical global challenge that we also confront in Asia, Latin America and Africa. For example, we have seen concerning amounts of pre-release piracy grow in Nigeria, where such sites have come to thrive in the midst of gaps in both legal protections for creators and enforcement actions against online theft.”
“The recording industry is immensely thankful for the tireless work that USTR and the interagency team put into this report, which again sets the standard for other countries to follow. The commitment to promoting copyright protection and enforcement around the world that are exemplified by this report is greatly welcomed, and we look forward to continuing to work with Ambassador Tai and her team to help secure an environment where American creativity can thrive and prosper.”
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Contact: press@riaa.com