ARIA & Foxtel Behind New Guide For 'Legal' Music & Film Websites

Australian music, TV and movie companies have today launched their latest attempt to push people towards legal sources of online content by launching an ‘online brochure’ of websites.

Funded by ARIA, Foxtel, News Corp Australian and APRA AMCOS amongst others, the Digital Content Guide is an online portal to industry-approved – that is, ones that pay artists and copyright holders – music, movie, game and sport streaming and download services.

Launched today at Sydney’s Studio 301, it comes as the copyright debate builds an increasing head of steam amongst a potential government crackdown.

Actor Simon Burke said at the event, "I'm confident that most Australians agree with the principle [of valuing content]". ARIA CEO Dan Rosen added that during the period of rapid development and new services in the creative industries, "Often we haven't communicated to the Australian public as well as we should have."

In a statement Rosen added, “The Australian creative industries have worked together to create a new digital service designed to help Australians easily find the content they want from licensed services,

“Widespread copyright infringement on the internet is an ongoing problem for the creative industries and we have been told that at times consumers have been confused about what is or isn’t a licensed service. The Digital Content Guide can help consumers find the content they want from the many licensed sources available in Australia today.

“These licensed services support the creative industries by ensuring money goes back into those industries and those who invest in them.”

Other companies involved with the funding of the Digital Content Guide are the Australian Screen Association, Copyright Agency Ltd and Village Roadshow.