IPOPHL urges musicians to apply for copyright amid prevalent piracy
The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL), the country’s anti-piracy body, is calling on musicians to safeguard their work through copyright registration amid the rising consumption of pirated content online.
In a statement, IPOPHL Director General Brigitte da Costa-Villaluz said copyright ensures artists are “fairly rewarded” for their musical pieces.
During the first quarter of the year, IPOPHL recorded a 24.36-percent increase in copyright registrations to 1,700 from 1,367 during the same period in the previous year.
Of the total, copyright registrations of musical compositions accounted for 4.94 percent, while sound recordings comprised 1.12 percent.
Da Costa-Villaluz said this calls for a more rigid campaign to raise awareness among musicians to educate them about their rights.
“IPOPHL by itself will not be able to reach everyone, but we know that with your help, we will be able to reach more,” the official said.
With this, she said the government must strengthen its enforcement efforts in the digital space to further protect musicians and the creative sector from piracy and infringement.
Based on a consumer survey on piracy by data analytics firm YouGov in June 2024, 70 percent of the country’s population was found to have consumed pirated content, up from 58 percent in 2023.
The Philippines ranked second in the Asia-Pacific region in terms of piracy consumption, only behind Vietnam with 71 percent.
For its ongoing crackdown against piracy, IPOPHL has committed to step up its site-blocking rules to disable access to websites that show pirated content.
The agency’s e-commerce memorandum of understanding (MOU), which asks stakeholders to flag and take down pirated content, is steadily increasing its signatories. From 45 in January, it now has 106 as of April.
Based on government data, the creative economy contributed 7.3 percent to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) last year, with a value of ₱1.94 trillion—an 8.7-percent increase from ₱1.78 trillion in the previous year.
Employment in the creative economy also saw an uptick, reaching 7.51 million in 2024, representing 15.4 percent of the nation’s total employment.