Christopher Pennington

Songwriter, Producer

I am a professional songwriter/producer, and have made my living exclusively from my profession for the past 12 years. In the last 2 years, my income has dropped massively due to decreased sales largely due to illegal downloading. 2 companies that I worked for went bankrupt due to illegal downloading.

My yearly earnings have diminished by more than 60 %, causing me to scramble and take on jobs like painting houses and carpentry which have severely taken away from my ability to write and produce music.

This is grossly unfair. The only way to guarantee I will be fairly compensated for my work is through programs like the Private Copying levy which distributes royalties fairly from the sale of blank media to composers and publishers based on sales and radio play.

As a writer of more than 1000 copyrighted compositions and arrangements, this levy is very, very important to me.

If I were a shopkeeper and people came in every day and stole my merchandise, I could phone the police. I could install an alarm. I could take steps to protect my property and my hard earned income. As a songwriter, I have no such solutions available to me.

The only way I can possibly be compensated for a fraction of what has been stolen is through programs like this. But this levy is in need of a serious, realistic update. Whereas 10 years ago, music was copied onto CDs and tapes, now the primary method of illegal downloading and distribution is through the internet and mp3 players. These developments have to be reflected in the program and steps need to be taken to reimburse writers and publishers their fair and reasonable share of lost revenue.