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When I was being prepped for my sit down with COO and Founder of Ban Piracy, Tomer Elbaz, I was trying to whip myself into a frenzy so I could go head to head with a bull and fire off my opinions on file sharing and its effect on the music industry. All of that turned out to be in vain, when it quickly became apparent that Ban Piracy was not a fraction of the overbearing RIAA. Instead, Ban Piracy has taken a higher ground approach to dealing with a very different challenge facing the audio industry right now, the use of stolen and/or cracked software in major studios and production houses. I say higher ground because instead of slapping Joe-Blow-Project-Studio with a lawsuit just to prove a point, they instead work to identify industry offenders, and then give them the chance to go legit.

ZIO: Thank you for taking the time to talk to us.

Tomer: It’s my pleasure.

ZIO: For the people that don’t know, explain what you guys are doing over at Ban Piracy.

Tomer: Ban Piracy is an independent company. We are dedicated to the protection and the enforcement of audio software copyrights. We’ve grown out of a desperate need in the industry. Today, over 50% of studios are using illegal software. This is in the USA; in Europe the numbers are even higher. We are here to fight this problem.

ZIO: A lot of people might lump you in incorrectly with the RIAA and people going after down loaders. You guys are a similar organization, but you are going to bat for the DAW people, the plug-in people, the software people.

Tomer: That’s it. Those are different companies for different types of industries. We are dedicated to the audio industry. That’s it. To the software that comes from all the audio companies you can see here. It’s not the RIAA.

ZIO: This is something that is developing and getting worse as you said. Is this something that is perpetuated by project studios, home and independent recording stuff, or are you just going after the big guys?

Tomer: Basically, we are going after everywhere there are cracks. We are looking to production facilities and commercial studios. This is our goal. Of course, cracks are everywhere you know, but it is crazy today to think that you can walk into a studio and [they] think they can get away with using stolen, cracked software. This is not fair to the paying, honest customers of our clients. The studio down the block can charge 40-50% less than the studio that actually needs to pay for the software. This is a service we are doing for the paying customers of our clients.

One can easily see how this type of action affects the entire production chain in the audio industry. Software manufactures have to deal with people stealing their product, so patches, plug-ins, and version updates become more expensive to recoup losses. Studios have to cut rates to compete with studios that steal software and thus have a lower overhead. Project Engineers like me are then stuck either paying higher prices for software, or turning criminal. Tomer continues:

Tomer: There are a lot of rumors about the way we act, what we’ve done so far, where have we been? We’ve been everywhere. It is a huge operation that involves many countries and many legal firms everywhere. This is I think the first time someone took it seriously. In the past companies had nowhere to go. Here we are, we can serve them now.

ZIO: What kind of response are you guys getting from the industry? Are people coming to bat, and coming to support you guys, or are you getting some resistance?

Tomer: Most of the comments and the responses are very very very supportive. There are those that have been caught in this situation, and they are not so happy about that. But, you know our main goal, and this is something that everybody should understand, we are here to turn the infringers into legit customers. This is a great opportunity if you run a studio full of crack[ed software] to come and go legit.

Piracy is a hot button word right now in the Music Biz. Whether it is the sharing of songs or the stealing of software, it’s obviously an issue that needs addressing. It would be easy to exacerbate the problem by big money companies (read: record labels) calling out the hounds (read: RIAA and ASCAP) to start throwing silly lawsuits around (Didn’t they threaten the girl scouts over the Birthday Song?). It’s good to see an organization that is willing to defend the right people, and do so in diplomatic ways.

For more information, visit Ban Piracy at www.banpiracy.com

And of course, feel free to agree or disagree by posting your opinions in the comments, or by emailing me at mh@magnetmediafilms.com