Emi risks confrontation with government regulator

EMI/Virgin Records have been blasted by some of Ireland’s leading music industry figures for releasing an album in association with Phantom FM.

Out last week, Phantom Vol. 1 is being heavily promoted by the Dublin pirate station, whose two applications for a licence have been turned down by the BCI.

Says Today FM Chief Executive Willie O’Reilly: “I’m disappointed that EMI would seek to have an association with an illegal operator. I just wonder how their artists feel in terms of copyright infringement and things like that. We pay about 15% of our gross income to record companies for the use of their stuff, Phantom don’t pay anything – including proper wages and PRSI.

“I actually think some of these guys should be licensed,” O’Reilly adds. “But that isn’t the issue here. The issue is that they aren’t licensed. And Phantom have pretty dirty hands. They come off the air and apply for a licence and, when they don’t get it, they go back on. You have to say in your heart of hearts, ‘There must be some reason they’re not getting a licence’. We tried to work with them on the last special interest licence for Dublin and we just found that they didn’t understand the financial proposition. ‘Wherever problems arise, we’ll get people to do it for nothing’. But that’s not tenable. People have a right and an expectation to get paid.”

Those sentiments are echoed by his FM104 counterpart Dermot Hanrahan, who is even more critical of EMI.

“I’m absolutely gobsmacked,” he says. “You’ve no moral authority to deal with piracy (of records) if you support criminal broadcasters. I’m not going to get unduly excited about it, but I will check which artists have agreed to be associated with this.”

If that’s the case, Hanrahan will now know that among the 18 tracks are recent offerings by Wilt, Therapy, Blink, The Walls, Babelfish, The Frames and Turn.

“For all the hype and coverage they get, the cumulative listenership of the 30 or so Dublin pirates rarely goes above 3% of the adult audience,” Hanrahan claims. “The message I’d be keen to send out (to bands on the Phantom compilation) is that they’re damaging their relationship with the stations that do have an audience. I don’t see it as a choice for a band to associate themselves with criminal broadcasters and still expect me to play their music.”

As for whether or not EMI/Virgin’s association with Phantom is itself illegal, Hugh Tuckey from the Office of the Director of Telecommunications says they’re monitoring the situation.

“Appearing on and advertising on (a pirate station), they’re both illegal,” he states. “If EMI and Virgin are said to be advertising on Phantom FM then, yes, that would be an offence.”

Other industry sources were scathing of the direct involvement of the multi-national with a pirate, at a time when there is still talk of a potential merger with Warners.

“I don’t think it’s very clever, risking going the wrong side of the law, as this clearly does,” one major record company insider comments. “If the ODTR decided to get involved, then it could become a very tricky situation for EMI. Either way, it isn’t very good for the image or the credibility of the major record companies, who are currently looking for government support via the Music Board. This sort of stunt is very prejudicial in relation to that.”

The Managing Director of EMI/Virgin Ireland, Willie Kavanagh, is adamant, meanwhile, that they’ve done nothing wrong.

“It doesn’t say Phantom FM anywhere (on the sleeve),” he says. “Phantom is a club night in the Temple Bar Music Centre.”

In relation to the latter, Kavanagh is incorrect – the TBMC night to which he is referring is in fact called Phantasm. Representatives of legal radio stations also point to the fact that the sleeve does say Phantomfm.com, and features on the site’s homepage alongside a Phantom 91.6 radio station logo.

“That’s an internet station which is legal,” Kavanagh insists. “Ministry of Sound have their own label and that’s based on club nights. We don’t advertise on Phantom FM. We don’t advertise on any illegal station. This isn’t done with Phantom FM.”

Whether that distinction is accepted by the country’s licensed broadcasters, or by the office of the Director of Telecommunications Regulation remains to be seen.