Ask any kingpin DJ, producer or promoter and they’ll tell you that whilst technology has made edgy, boundary-breaking dance music more accessible it has also, in part at least, slapped clubland round the face. The dance music scene has, like the wider music industry, faced a significant technological conundrum in recent years – various obstacles tied to illegal downloading, fuelled by recession and ultimately responsible for dwindling sales.

It is with hope, then, that industry figures have this week received a new, fully comprehensive and high-profile legal downloading guide from Childnet International, a non-profit organisation working with others to ‘help make the internet a great and safe place for children.’

In this case, those ‘others’ are the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) and International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI). Childnet’s new booklet, Music, Film, TV and the Internet – A Guide for Parents and Teachers, has the full weight of the music industry behind it and aims to advise consumers about the rules, regulations and risks related to downloading entertainment content.

Childnet has published information on file-sharing before. But its earlier communications in 2005 and 2008 were, by comparison, basic and such was the demand for additional advice that the organisation has decided to upgrade and update. “We didn’t even PR those early leaflets and yet the interest in what we had to say was immense” says Lucinda Fell, Policy & Communications Manager at Childnet. “We had so many requests for information from parents and teachers; safe downloading is a major issue and we knew there was scope to do something bigger.”



The result is admirable. Childnet’s latest guide should not be viewed simply as another attempt, backed by key music industry bodies, to address a core problem within the recording business. It is, in fact, a fully comprehensive and well considered solution to that problem, and one, for once, aimed at the right people.

Fell, naturally, agrees, even if the motives for her organisation’s booklet extend well beyond music downloading: “Children have great access to the internet today and will grow up embracing computers and technology in ways we can’t fully imagine and never had the opportunity to. It’s important that parents and teachers can converse with them now, so that they grow up with the right values and with an awareness of the consequences of their online actions.”

Childnet calls this ‘digital citizenship’. The internet should, in their eyes, be surfed safely and responsibly by its users, and with total consideration for others. Adam Liversage, BPI’s Director of Communications, hones in on the music-related objectives of the ideology. “There are several big reasons why young people should be downloading their music legally” he opens. “But then I think a lot of young people don’t realise file-sharing and downloading is often illegal in the first place. By educating them at an early age about the consequences of illegal downloads, we can make their experience a better one and help strengthen the music industry.”

So what are these big reasons? “Teachers and parents don’t currently have a great depth of knowledge about what their children get up to online, so we want to give them clear, spin-free information and advice, which they can in turn pass on; their the best placed people to do that well” Liversage explains. “There is always the risk of downloading inappropriate content when using illegal channels, as well as the risk of viruses and damage to computers through transferring broken, poorly packaged files. That can represent a huge economic and sometimes moral cost to families and users. That’s one side of it.”

And the other?:  “Of course, there is also the cost to our industry. We have to talk about the consequences that illegal downloading can have in terms of hard-working record labels and recording artists struggling to make a profit; particularly in the current climate. The UK has made significant progress; today, it offers the biggest number of legal download services in the world. The major labels have done their bit, digitising their back catalogues, and then you have iTunes and so forth, but there remains much to do. It is the younger generations that can make a difference in the future.”



That future starts today, with Childnet aiming to have its guide in all UK secondary schools by the end of November. Each school will receive 50 copies and additional support in terms of establishing curriculum-approved lessons on plagiarism and copyright law – these to reinforce the booklet’s main download messages. The guide can already be downloaded by parents through the Childnet website, and there are plans to stock it with some of the UK’s leading retailers in 2011. Overseas, meanwhile, Childnet is working hard to cement the guide’s footing in a further 26 counties – available in 13 different languages – and will be pushing an EU-funded Safer Internet programme, in which its guide will have a starring role.

Liverage points out that there are no specific targets for this joint campaign. The BPI and its partners, he says, are simply keen to move the nebulous file-sharing debate on, and give music consumers greater clarity about the dos, don’ts and whys. In the long-term, such clarity should inspire a further decrease in illegal downloading, hand back creative and financial freedom to artists and labels, and better protect music-loving web users. A win, win situation he feels.

“We don’t want to scandalise the internet for children by any stretch” Fell stresses. “We want to talk to them about it sensibly. Children need to see downloading as a moral transaction; that if they download illegally it is akin to nicking a CD or DVD, say. We want to give parents and teachers the tools to address these issues in a constructive, effective way, and help young people become good digital citizens.

“This is the biggest push yet we’ve given the download message, and it will be an ongoing push. We’re confident we can make a change in the UK and abroad, and update our resources as, when and where we need to. It’s a massive topic of discussion and thankfully people are becoming more and more engaged.”

Time for the kids to do their thing….

Words: Ben Lovett

For more information on Childnet’s booklet Music, Film, TV and the Internet – A Guide for Parents and Teachers visit www.childnet.com/downloading