Industry tackles private copying.

The `historical inevitability' of home copying to be dealt with by Music Business Group's 10 members this week

The music industry's key organisations are uniting this morning (Monday) to hatch a bold plan to tackle format shifting.

The commercial wing of the industry, the Music Business Group (MBG), is meeting to sign off on a commercial licensing proposal as the main part of the industry's submission to the Gowers Copyright Consultation. That is due to be delivered to the UK Intellectual Property Office tomorrow.

The MBG's "unique and groundbreaking" document addresses six recommendations dealing with copyright exceptions proposed by Andrew Gowers in his 2006 Review.

The key issue tackled in the 24-page submission, critically endorsed by the MBG's 10 members (the BPI, Aim, MU, MMF, Music Producers Guild, PPL, MPA, British Academy of Composers & Songwriters, British Music Rights and the MCPS-PRS Alliance), is Recommendation 8 - providing a private copying exception to allow format shifting, but also controversially suggesting there should be no "accompanying levies for consumers".

MBG chairman Stephen Navin says copying is a historical inevitability and the industry wants to be "grown up" and continue to allow people to copy. ...