More Fraud Investigations Over Recording Industry Execs; Swiss IFPI Boss Resigns
from the well,-look-at-that dept
Following the news of corruption charges in Spain over SGAE execs, comes the news that the head of the IFPI in Switzerland has been forced to resign over some sort of scheme to avoid paying taxes. The details are a bit convoluted, but, basically, it sounds like he was able to route some IFPI things through a separate company he ran, in order to get a more favorable tax position. The IFPI is trying to throw the guy under the bus, but the report suggests other IFPI honchos knew all about the scheme. I find it amusing, by the way, that our regular commenters, who (falsely) call me a criminal, haven't had anything to say about these music industry folks and their scams.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: switzerland, tax evasion
Companies: ifpi
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
It'd be nice
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Make that three...
Dutch opposition party D66 requested an inquiry into the organisation, describing it as poorly managed and non-transparent. Losing € 14Million of artists revenues didn't help things either.
Translated WebWereld article: http://is.gd/8YXLhi
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Piracy sounds like it should cost the industry money, it's on e of those common sense things that everyone knows without having to think about it. Just like we know that the world can't be a globe(we'd fall off) so it must be flat and that stars aren't massive balls of flaming gas but tiny little pinpricks of light, it's just obvious, so piracy costs money.
Sure the figures don't actually bear that out in any way whatsoever, but that doesn't stop it being common sense.
Major labels, licensing organisations etc are what bring in money so why focus on minor hiccups with them, sometimes things go wrong and when they do those issues get addressed which is what's happening.
Whatever, issues around those are complex and difficult to follow, what's easy to follow is that piracy is theft and piracy is increasing despite all the efforts made so far.
Any idiot can grasp that point so they do.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
False dichotomies are a very bad debating technique and obvious ones like this make you look like an idiot. Just saying.
"Major labels, licensing organisations etc are what bring in money so why focus on minor hiccups with them"
Yeah, erosion of free speech, the hijack of Western culture, removal of due process and the assumption of guilt before innocence is fine as long a handful of corporations make some money.
"Any idiot can grasp that point so they do."
Then maybe you should start looking at the real reasons why rather than the half-assed assumptions the above are based on.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
All in all its pretty much politics as usual ...
1) Get as many people (blogs, etc) as you can to praise what you are doing and disallow or censor comments.
2) Shout down and disrupt any actual conversations.
3) Ignore any negatives in your industry unless they gain popular traction.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
5) profit
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Again it is shown that money is the root of all evil when it comes to morality. So how long till a friendly investigating committee comes to visit in the US?
How much of the artist's money will it take to defend them?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Quotes!
If you're going to quote something, please at a minimum attempt to quote it correctly.
The line is "The LOVE of money is the root of all evil."
Thanx,
teh interwebz
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
There are two sets of laws, those that protect the rich and those that protect everyone else. Those that protect the rich carry steeper penalties.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Speaking as a musician...
These recent disclosures simply reinforce what I've known for 40 years: anybody standing between musicians and music afficionados is there because they have their hand in someone's pocket.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Let me try
It is just like you coolade drinkers to to try to equate slanderous allegations with stealing music and movies.
Nice FUD.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Let me try
Of course not! They actually STOLE MONEY!! That is already clearly illegal just about everywhere in the civilized world. Now once the court finds them guilty they will get their day in court that they are always blathering on about!!
Nice FUD, jackwagon!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Let me try
You have some impressive paradox crumple zones. You don't see the parallell when you are saying "These are simply allegations [...] until proven in a court" and the so called "graduated response" based on accusations NOT proven in a court.
I'm still giggling. I owe you one.
And even if in a hypothetical world IP addresses did "clearly identify" a person, shouldn't that be treated like any other evidence? That is, be used as part of a case in court?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Let me try
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Let me try
I looked at the subject, giggled, and then looked at the responses, and LOLed.
I give you an A+ for effort, an A+ for execution, and bonus marks for callbacks to common arguments from Mike.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Let me try
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Let me try
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Let me try
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Let me try
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Let me try
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Let me try
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Let me try
Totally blindsided. Well played Atkray.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Let me try
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Next time, Mike, instead of protesting the law, simply break it instead. You'll get in a whole lot less trouble and you won't have false accusations thrown at you.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
I've never called you a criminal. A coddler of criminals, yes. An apologist for piracy, yes. But in this particular case I believe that if these people violated the law, they should pay the price. Just like anyone else who takes something of value that they are not entitled to.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
BadaBing..BadaBoom....
Thank you, Thank you, I'll be here all week....
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re:
I'm sure I thought of it first, and since this isn't a first to tell society, I'll be expecting appropriate licensing fees for that one (or an honorable mention at the appropriate comedy roast).
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
"criminal", "piracy", how do you define this? As has been repeated over and over, there is nothing but data replication on the internet. No one has lost anything except the "old guard" which made money off every replication because it was a physical item. If you remove the old guard and assume all free, artists still make the same or probably MORE than they did before. I feel absolutely no pitty for the recording industry, they need to go, the "MUSIC" industry (and most notably the artists who are actually making money instead of being in permanent debt) is doing just fine or even better than ever before.
The movie industry is slightly different, don't know where free fits into their model but I think it probably involves making folks "WANT" to pay to see things. 3D is a start, unfortunately with the exception of Avatar and Transformers 3, it has been a complete waste of effort and actually ruined the new medium by pushing crap at audiences. On the other hand, how about making going to the theaters a nice night out again instead of the current hit and miss uncomfortable and potentially annoying (kids, cell phones, etc) experience.
Mike doesn't coddle pirates or criminals, just points out the reasons no one wants to do the things we used to do because: one- we don't have to, two- everything is corporatized and "maximized for profit" which basically means against the comfort and enjoyment of the consumers.
Things change, but that's what you argue against, so no reason explaining common sense to a hack yet again.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
So you don't see a problem with a website that takes the work of another to which it is unentitled and distributes for its own personal gain? Interesting moral perspective but also against the law (making it criminal). Masnick constantly raises specious free speech and due process smokescreens to make excuses for this sort of behavior. I have no idea why you feel entitled to get something for nothing or profit from the work of another. If you feel the price is too high, don't buy it. It's entertainment for Christ's sake.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Will it ever happen on the U.S.?
How can music and movies sell billions and still make no profit?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
If the government would get out of the way of the economy.
This is why copyright enforcement is the wrong path.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
MAD mag - awesome comic
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Stop Tax Piracy NOW
[ link to this | view in chronology ]