In the era of drastic change surrounding the music industry, we are engaged in the establishment of new legal system that will allow producers to maintain their music creation cycles. Facing the rapid evolution of information technology, we are appealing for the necessity of "Broadcasting right of sound recordings" and "Importation right of sound recordings" to prevent the reflow of Japanese-repertoire recordings from foreign countries of different economic situations.

To protect the right of the producers from infringement, RIAJ takes countermeasures against illegal activities in alliance with domestic member companies and related organizations of rightholders. We are also actively involved in the "Anti-Counterfeiting Association" along with groups of rightholders in other industries to enlighten people about intellectual property.

For the prevention of illegal uploading of music on the Internet and immoderate copying beyond the purpose for private use, we are engaged in activities to spread the knowledge and raise people's awareness of copyright.

As the secretariat of "Anti-Illegal Recording Alliance," that consists of nine music related organizations, we handle problems concerning illegal recording often found in various kinds of music schools nationwide including Karaoke. In order to raise awareness about copyright issues, we have been conducting researches and enlightenment activities, and organizing lectures in many cities and towns.

As the National Group of IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry) in Japan, that has more than 1,500 member record companies in 76 countries, we are making every effort to eliminate pirated copies worldwide. Especially in relation to the recent increase of illegal activities conducted on the Internet, we are working on this problem as the common problem in the global recording industry.

In addition to cooperating with "copyright seminars," organized by the Agency for Cultural Affairs and prefectural education boards, and organizing workshops and lectures concerning copyright and new technologies, we are actively working on raising people's awareness on copyright and advancing the cultivation of human resources in this software and information society.

Technological research and establishment of standards for proper use of recordings that correspond to technological innovation

Responding to the advancement of information technology, the recording industry is currently enhancing the EDI system to promote the digitalization and sharing of music information transmitted from each record company. In addition to the past information based on product unit (POS information), we are working on providing a foundation for the new network distribution era by consolidating a wide range of information provided by various record companies centralized on ISRS (International Standard Recording System), an information based on sound source unit.

We organize international meetings such as "Joint Engineering Committee Meeting " in conjunction with IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry) and RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America). These meetings aim to establish rights- protecting systems to deal with digitalization and to conduct researches and studies at the international level. We also actively participate in global level activities to ensure the security of music contents in the broadband network environment.

As a part of the standardization of the domestic recordings, we set the standards on quality and technology of recordings and issue them as RIS, Record Industrial Standards.

When public or private broadcasters, cable broadcasters and satellite broadcasters use commercial sound recordings in their programs, these operators are obliged to pay "secondary use fee" to the producers of phonograms based on the copyright law. Under the designation of the Commissioner of the Agency for Cultural Affairs, we are mandated by the producers to set the amount of secondary use fee with each broadcaster, then collect and distribute the fee.

When recordings that were released over one year ago are used by a rental store, the rental store is obliged to pay remuneration. The Association has been mandated by phonogram producers to set the amount of the remuneration for rentals between the Compact Disc & Video Rental Trade Association of Japan which is mandated by rental stores and to collect and distribute these fees, as is the case with secondary use fee. On the other hand, in regards to the royalty for recordings that were released less than one year ago, which means it is within "Lending Right," we have been mandated by phonogram producers to collect and distribute the royalty along with remuneration for recordings only produced by domestic phonogram producers. We also work representing the producers to maintain smooth operations between record-rental shops and the producers based on the contract.

Currently, the compensation for recording of music for private use is collected by the Society for Administration of Remuneration for Audio Home Recording (sarah). Sarah is the organization designated by the Commissioner of the Agency for Cultural Affairs. We receive the audio compensation from sarah as a member organization of society representing phonogram producers and then distribute it to the producers.