equipment.

(WCI Survey, 5.)5/ An even greater number

67 percent of the population

now has access to tape

(Id.)

playback equipment (such as the Sony "Walkman").

Not surprisingly, those people are using their equipment to tape records. The recent WCI Survey found

that home taping of music is by far the most frequent taping activity. Seventy-five percent of all blank

tape is used to record music. (WCI Survey, 9, 12.)

Moreover, music taping is not a sporadic or occasional activity. Another survey, prepared for the Copyright Royalty Tribunal,6/ found that most of those engaging in home taping of music record between one and five hours per month (Hamilton Survey, 4). About one-fourth of home tapers

-

23 percent

-

record at

least three hours of music per month the equivalent

of six record albums.

(Hamilton Survey, Table 3.)

5/ "A Consumer Survey: Home Taping," March 1982 Thereinafter referred to as the "WCI Survey"). The full text of the WCI Survey is set forth in Appendix

Two.

6/ "A Survey of Households With Tape Playback Equipment," prepared for the Copyright Royalty Tribunal, September, 1979 (hereinafter referred to as the "Hamilton Survey"). The full text of the Hamilton Survey is set forth in Appendix Three.

Another barometer of the extent of home taping dramatically

sales of blank tape to record music

-

reveals how extensive home taping is today. In 1980 alone, Americans spent $600 million on tapes used to record music. (WCI Survey, 7.) Figures with respect to the sale of blank tape cassettes tell the same story. In 1971, Americans purchased under 4.4 billion minutes of blank cassettes. By 1981, that figure had soared to over 17 billion minutes. The bar chart on the next page vividly illustrates this increase.

Merchandising Magazine Statistical Issue, March 1982, p. 24

1971

1981

A study of the amount of music recorded by home

tapers also reveals the magnitude of the problem.

According to the WCI Survey, Americans taped 251 million albums and more than 2 billion individual selections

in 1980 (which constitute the equivalent of another 204 million albums) for a total of 455 million "albums" with a market value of $2.85 billion. (WCI Survey,

20.) In 1981, by comparison, the entire recording

industry sold the equivalent of only 475 million albums.

Moreover, the extent of home taping of music

shows every sign of increasing. According to a 1979 CBS Survey,/ 55 percent of the purchasers of blank tape indicated they were taping more that year than the previous one. (CBS Survey, 10.) And the WCI Study found that, from 1977 to 1980, there were significant increases in the percentage of the population who have access to recording equipment, who buy blank tape, and who engage in audio taping. (WCI Survey, 4-6.) In contrast, there has been a decline in the percentage of the population purchasing records and pre-recorded

7/ "Blank Tape Buyers: Their Attitudes and Impact on Pre-Recorded Music Sales, Fall, 1980 (hereinafter referred to as the "CBS Survey"). The full text of the CBS Survey is set forth in Appendix Four.

tapes.8/

And, contrary to a popular misconception, home

tapers are not, by and large, teenagers.

Rather, 88

percent of all album taping and 78 percent of the taping

of individual selections is done by persons over the

age of 20. (WCI Survey, 26.)

Home taping is a substantial and growing

phenomenon in America.

And it has had a profoundly

destructive effect on the recording industry and on the rest of the musical arts community, as we shall now demonstrate.

II. THE SERIOUS ECONOMIC AND CULTURAL IMPLICATIONS
OF HOME TAPING

Home taping has had a debilitating impact on

a high-risk American industry that is already reeling from the combined effects of burgeoning record piracy and counterfeiting, increasing competition from new entertainment forms and a sluggish economy. If

uncompensated home taping continues to persist at present levels, it could well deliver a knock-out blow to the

8/ "A Study On Tape Recording Practices Among the General Public," June, 1979 (hereinafter referred to as the "Roper Survey"). The principal conclusions of the Roper Survey are set forth in Appendix Five.