UK music industry wants to tax fans for copying or ripping their own music

Law finally allows people to rip music from CDs to their computers legally — but industry wants to charge

Customers browse through Vinyl Junkies record shop in Berwick Street, Soho, London (Rex Pictures)

UK music industry bodies criticised a bill that finally made it legal for music fans to make copies of music, including ripping their own CDs, for failing to give compensation to the owners of the music.

Industry pressure group UK Music criticised the legislation for “failing to include fair compensations for musicians, composers and rights holders”. It asked that the legislation is taken to judicial review because the system is unfair.

UK Music said that while it welcomed the purpose of the new measures, “this is a bad piece of legislation”. The private copying exception, which allows users to make copies of their music from CDs or records, “will damage the musician and composer community”, it said.

Many European countries gave compensation to rights holders when they made the change, and the rule is a part of EU law. But the British government said that its copyright law was more restrictive already, and so it didn’t have to pay the levy.

UK Music, the Musicians Union and the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors (BASCA) have all criticised the legislation.

Vicki Bain, CEO of BASCA, said: “We fully support the right of the consumer to copy legally bought music for their own personal and private use, but there must be fair compensation for the creators of the music”.