Music piracy is a red herring, says Vevo chief executive

The chief executive of music video website Vevo has said that the issue of piracy is a "distraction".

Rio Caraeff, who heads the partnership from Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Abu Dhabi Media, told Metro that the future of the industry is "about access to music but not necessarily buying or downloading".

"Piracy is a distraction," Caraeff said. "A red herring. Energy is better served creating better programming and more events.

"Thinking about how to block the 1% of people downloading is not the best use of our time."

He continued. "Go back a few hundred years and music was about performances, not purchases.

"In the grand history of time, buying music is nothing but a blip. Consumer interest is in watching videos online, on television, on mobiles."

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Caraeff added: "For the last hundred years the music industry has focused on the retailer and not the fan.

"If you want to be relevant you must have a relationship with the fans. If you can't, there isn't a place for you in the future."

Last month, Ofcom announced plans to introduce a 'three strikes' policy against suspected filesharers by 2013.

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