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Information about British Phonographic Industry

Part of a of articles on
British music

BPI • OCC
Charts
Singles chart (#1s; Records)
Albums chart (#1s)
Download chart (#1s)
Awards
BRIT Awards • Mercury Prize
NME Awards
Periods
Pre-1950 • 1950s & 60s
1970s • 1980s
1990s - Present
Origins
England • Scotland • Wales
• Caribbean
Genres
Classical • Britpop • Hip-hop
Opera • Rock • Jazz
Major music publications
NME • Melody Maker
Music Week • Record Collector
Record Mirror • Record Retailer
Smash Hits • Sounds
Other links
•
Festivals •
Timeline
1991 • 1992 • 1993 • 1994 • 1995
1996 • 1997 • 1998 • 1999 • 2000
2001 • 2002 • 2003 • 2004 • 2005
2006 • 2007 • ()
This box:  •  • [ edit]


The British Phonographic Industry (BPI) is the British record industry's trade association. Its membership comprises hundreds of music companies including all four 'major' record companies (Warner Music Group, EMI, Sony BMG, and Universal Music Group), associate members such as manufacturers and distributors, and hundreds of independent music companies representing literally thousands of labels. It has represented the interests of British record companies since being formally incorporated in 1973 when the principal aim was to fight copyright infringement.

It founded the annual BRIT Awards for the British music industry, as well as the Mercury Prize for the Album of the Year.

The BRIT Trust

The charitable arm of the BPI, the trust was conceived in 1989 by a collection of leading music industry individuals with a mission to give young people a chance to express their musical creativity regardless of race, class, sex or ability. The BRIT Trust is the only music charity actively supporting all types of education across the entire spectrum of music. Through the projects it supports, which include Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy and The BRIT School, the Trust offers young people the opportunity to enhance their lives through music.

The BRIT School

Opened in September 1991, The BRIT School is a joint venture between and The BRIT Trust and the Department for Education and Skills (DfES). Based at Selhurst in Croydon, the school is the only non fee-paying performing arts school in the UK. It teaches 750 students each year from 14-19 years in music, dance, drama, musical theatre, production, media and art & design. It’s not a stage school or fame academy. Students are from completely diverse backgrounds and are not required to stick to their own discipline; dancers learn songwriting, pianists can learn photography. Nor do students have to work/perform in the evening to pay for the tuition; all they have to do is show their determination to succeed in the competitive creative industries.

What it does - BPI work

The BPI divide their work into three areas: Protection, Promotion, and Representation and Support

Protection

The BPI protects the interests of its members by enforcing copyright law in the UK. They do this through a variety of means, including civil litigation, criminal litigation, lobbying against filesharing sites, and supporting other enforcement agencies in anti-copyright infringement raids.

Promotion

The BPI also does much work in profiling British music at home and abroad. The BRIT awards, the UK's premier music show, is organised and run by the BPI and showcases the best in UK music at home and abroad.

The BPI, along with British Association of Record Dealers operate The Official UK Charts Company, compiling various statistics on music purchases within the UK. The BPI also produce annual reports on consumer behavior, and emergent trends. They issue silver, gold, and platinum awards.

Representation and Support

The BPI's membership includes the four major labels, plus a number of smaller, independent labels. They set industry policy and handle media relations, recently mostly relating to copyright infringement.

The BPI lobby the government on behalf of it's members in accordance with the aforementioned policies, most recently for a clarification of copyright, strengthening copyright laws and harsher penalties for copyright infringers.

The BPI also offer support to their members in the form of negotiating fair use contracts with major media, or distributors, such as the BBC, the MU or the MCPS.

The BPI host, and represent their members at various international trade fairs, educational seminars, etc.

Sales certificates

The British Phonographic Industry awards certificates for music releases in Britain. The level of the award varies depending on the format of the release and the amount sold. BPI certificates are not automatic; the record company must pay a fee to the BPI and they carry out an audit into the release in question. Certificates are usually awarded on the basis of the amount of units the release has shipped, rather than the amount it has sold.

Format Status [1]
Silver Gold Platinum
Album60,000100,000300,000
Single200,000400,000600,000

BPI council

Similar organisations

See also: RIAA#Similar organizations
  • RIAA, the Recording Industry Association of America, is the United States' music industry association.
  • IFPI, the International Federation of Phonogram and Videogram Producers is the worldwide music industry group.
  • FACT, the Federation Against Copyright Theft, is the UK anti-copyright infringement organisation for the motion picture industry.
  • ARIA, Australian Recording Industry Association, is the Australian industry association.

See also

External links

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The Official UK Charts Company (OCC), previously called the Chart Information Network (CIN) compiles various "official" UK record charts, including the UK Singles Chart, the UK Albums Chart, and the UK Official Download Chart, as well as genre-specific
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UK Singles Chart is currently compiled by The Official UK Charts Company (OCC) on behalf of the British record industry. The chart week runs from Sunday to Saturday, with the chart being printed in Music Week magazine, and published online at Yahoo! Music UK (formerly Dotmusic)
..... Click the link for more information.
This is a list of the number one hits in the UK Singles Chart, from its inception in 1952 to the present. The sources, in accordance with the official canon of The Official UK Charts Company, are the New Musical Express chart from 1952 to 1960; the
..... Click the link for more information.
^]]  Note: The Shadows, or The Drifters as they were originally called, are credited on twelve #1 singles. Seven of these share credit with Cliff Richard and some lists recognise only their 5 chart-topping singles without Richard.
..... Click the link for more information.
The UK Albums Chart is a chart of the sales positions of albums in the United Kingdom. It is formulated by The Official UK Charts Company and a Top 200 published in Charts Plus (only the Top 100 is counted in data sources).
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This is a list of the number one hits in the UK Albums Chart, from its inception in 1956 to the present. The sources are the Record Mirror chart from 1956 to the end of 1958, the Melody Maker chart from November 1958 to March 1960, the
..... Click the link for more information.
The UK Official Download Chart is compiled by The Official UK Charts Company on behalf of the music industry. The chart week runs from Wednesday to Tuesday, with the chart being compiled on a Wednesday afternoon; however, the chart is aired initially on BBC Radio 1's Chart
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This is a list of the number one hits in the UK Official Download Chart, from its inception on 1 September 2004 to the present. The source is Official Chart Company's download chart .
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BRIT Awards, often simply called The BRITs, are the annual United Kingdom pop music awards founded by the British Phonographic Industry. The backronym BRIT stands for The British Record Industry Trust

Overview


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The Mercury Prize, formerly the Mercury Music Prize and currently known as the Nationwide Mercury Prize for sponsorship reasons, is an annual music prize awarded for the best album from the United Kingdom or Republic of Ireland.
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This article or section may contain original research or unverified claims.
Please help Wikipedia by adding references. See the for details.
This article has been tagged since February 2007.

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This article or section may contain original research or unverified claims.
Please help Wikipedia by adding references. See the for details.
This article has been tagged since February 2007.

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This article or section may contain original research or unverified claims.
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This article has been tagged since February 2007.

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The Folk Music of England has a long history. The United Kingdom, like most European countries, underwent a roots revival in the last half of the 20th century. English music has been an instrumental and leading part of this phenomenon, which peaked at the end of the 1960s and into
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music of Scotland has kept many of its traditional aspects; indeed, it has itself influenced many forms of music.

Scottish traditional music, although influencing and being influenced by both Irish traditional music and English traditional music, is very much a creature unto
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The Doyleys, Paradise and Lavine Hudson and the Bazil Meade inspired London Community Gospel Choir began to drive the music much further towards the mainstream and it must be said out of the comfort zone of the black churches.
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^]]  The Encyclopedia of Classical Music edited by Peter Gammond, Salamander Books, ISBN 0-86101-400-6
  • ^  Ibid.
  • Percy A.
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    ..... Click the link for more information.
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    New Musical Express (better known as the NME) is a popular music magazine in the United Kingdom which has been published weekly since March 1952. It was the first British paper to include a singles chart which first appeared in the 14 November 1952 edition.
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    Melody Maker, published in the United Kingdom, was, according to its publisher IPC Media, the world's oldest weekly music newspaper.[1] It was founded in 1926 as a magazine targeted at musicians; in 2000 it was merged into "long-standing rival"[1]
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    Music Week is a trade paper for the UK record industry.

    Founded in 1959 as Record Retailer, it was relaunched on March 18, 1972 as Music Week.
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    Record Collector is the United Kingdom's longest-running monthly music magazine. It distributes both within the UK and worldwide. It started in 1979.

    History

    The early years

    The first standalone issue of Record Collector
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