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CD Pirates Reported

Press release from the Norsk Musikerforbund concerning piracy of Motorpsycho tracks perpetrated by the 'Record World' shop in Sandnes. Police now involved ...
English translation, slightly reworked by the Lighthouse Girl.

The Record World store in the town of Sandnes [Norway] has been reported to the police for copyright violation after selling illegal Motorpsycho CD copies.

Both in the shop and from their homepage Record World has sold a non-authorized triple CD called «All You Ever Wanted, All You Ever Needed...». The pirate release contains 51 tracks that were copied from 21 Motorpsycho releases from the years 1990 - 2000.

In March 2001, a friend of Motorpsycho told the band about the release. The band agreed that their trade union, Norwegian Musicians' Union (MFO), should take up the task to find the origin of the pirate release. It is now expected that the owner of Record World will explain himself on this matter.

The shop has charged up to NOK 295 per item. The product is said to have been offered for sale at different record fairs in Norway at prices between NOK 350 and NOK 500, but there is no evidence that Record World has anything to do with this. At this point, the volume of sales is unknown, but the shop even sold the album to people working at the MFO as well as to the union's lawyer Erik Nadheim.

Piracy refers to violation of copyrights, including the rights of the songwriters, the producers and the performers. The members of Motorpsycho assume all three roles on most of the 51 tracks. We regard this release as an attack on the property of the musicians and the basis for their livelihood. This is why we have encouraged the band to report the case, says president Arnfinn Bjerkestrand of the MFO.

Music piracy is a global problem. The international federation of the recording industry, IFPI, made a survey of the extent. A recent report estimates that one out of three CDs and cassettes sold last year was a pirate copy, for which the copyright holders don't get paid. This translates into an annual amount estimated at NOK 40 billion (5 billion Euro). We expect that the Norwegian authorities, particularly the police and the tax authorities, will take this problem seriously so the pirates understand that this is not acceptable, president Bjerkestrand concludes.