RIAJ successfully settles case against digital broadcaster

22 January 2003

The Japanese recording industry association RIAJ and 13 of its member record companies have settled their case against digital broadcaster Daiichikosyo Co., Ltd., operator of the StarDigio digital music broadcasting service. RIAJ sued the service in 1998, claiming among other things that StarDigio's practices of playing entire albums in digital form and pre-announcing those albums encouraged users to make perfect, permanent copies rather than buying those albums, in violation of RIAJ members' rights.

The terms of the settlement include StarDigio's agreement not to pre-announce the start or end times of the tracks to be broadcast, and not to broadcast entire albums within an agreed period after their release. In a public statement, RIAJ said that the settlement reflected better respect for the rights of record producers, and that RIAJ would continue to work to make producers' rights over broadcasting more effective.

For further information contact:
Fiona Harley, IFPI +44 (0)20 7878 7900