NZ music industry tunes in online

News release web - 1
18 December, 2003

NZ music industry tunes in online

Following 10 months of design and development, The Recording Industry Association of New Zealand (RIANZ) has revamped its website - making it a key resource for those needing information on matters musical.

Visitors to the site at www.rianz.org.nz are able to click through to see who's topping the week's album, single and compilation charts as well as checking out which albums and singles are the year's best sellers.

There is comprehensive information about RIANZ activities including the BRN>BRNT anti-piracy campaign.

Details on the role of the Recording Artists and Producers (RAP) Fund, a distribution vehicle for licence fees collected, and the Phonographic Performances (NZ) Ltd, which collects payments for music rights, are included on the site.

New features include online licence applications for playing or using recorded music in public and New Zealand artists can now register online to be part of the RAP fund.

RIANZ chief executive Terence O'Neill-Joyce says the new site makes information more accessible for those who need to find out about New Zealand's music industry.

"RIANZ's job is to inform and educate people about the music industry," he says. "So it's important that our shop-front is contemporary and user-friendly."

"Everyone is a lot more computer literate these days and with Internet piracy rife we feel we should be delivering our messages in a way our audiences are used to receiving them.

The RIANZ web site was designed by Front End which also designed the popular 2003 New Zealand Music Awards site.

About RIANZ: The Recording Industry Association of New Zealand Inc (RIANZ) is a non-profit organisation representing major and independent record producers, distributors and recording artists throughout New Zealand. RIANZ works to protect the rights and interests of creative people involved in the New Zealand recording industry. It administers the anti-piracy brand BRN>BRNT designed to educate New Zealanders about the damage piracy does to the livelihoods of those who work in the music industry.. Currently RIANZ has 47 full and affiliate members.

RIANZ is the New Zealand International Standard Recording Code (ISRC) national agency for encoding on all audio and audio-visual recordings and ensures copyright owners of sound recordings and recording artists are properly paid. RIANZ also administers the RAP fund - a scheme designed to support New Zealand artists and producers by ensuring licence fees collected are pass on to Rap fund participants. Over 300 artists and producers participate in the scheme. RIANZ is also responsible for producing the annual New Zealand Music Awards - The Tuis, The weekly Top 50 Albums and Singles Charts and the production and distribution of Music credit vouchers for retail stores nation-wide.

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Issued for the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand by Pead PR

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