Brendan Barber, the TUC general secretary, said that the growth of streaming of copyrighted works is a major threat to jobs in the creative industries. Photograph: Martin Argles/Guardian
A quarter of a million British jobs in the music, film, TV, software and other creative industries could be lost over the next five years if online piracy continues at its current rate, according to a study backed by European unions and the TUC.
Across the EU, as many as 1.2 million jobs are in jeopardy as piracy looks set to strip more than €240bn (£218bn) in revenues from the creative industries by 2015, unless regulators can stem the flow. In 2008, the creative industries contributed €860bn to the EU's GDP – almost 7% – and they employ 6.5% of the EU workforce, or 14 million people.
As well as a clampdown on peer-to-peer filesharing of unlawfully copied material, the government has agreed with the Conservatives to put a new clause into the forthcoming bill that will deal with websites and online repositories used to store unlawfully copied material.
The survey, commissioned by the International Chamber of Commerce, followed the publication by the Conservatives of their technology manifesto last week. The party pledged to create the fastest high-speed broadband network in Europe, creating 600,000 jobs and setting Britain up as a "European hub" for the digital and creative industries.
The survey, by independent Paris-based economics firm TERA Consultants, shows that Britain will be worst hit of the leading European countries not least because the creative industries account for more than 9% of GDP, a higher proportion than in other countries.
The core creative industries – film, TV, music, publishing and advertising – in the EU's 27 states added almost €560bn to GDP in 2008, roughly 4.5% of total European GDP, according to the report. The value added by the all industries connected with the creative sector – which includes distribution, logistics and hardware companies such as TV and set-top box manufacturers – was €860bn in 2008, an estimated 6.9% of total European GDP. In 2008 the core creative industries employed 8.5 million people, while the entire sector's workforce was 14 million.
Across the EU, 'Building a Digital Economy: The Importance of Saving Jobs in the EU's Creative Industries' reckons that in 2008 the creative industries most hit by piracy – film, TV series, recorded music and software – lost €10bn in retail revenues which contributed to the loss of more than 185,000 jobs. In the UK, retail revenues lost to piracy last year topped €1.4bn, with the creative industries shedding 39,000 jobs.
The survey has been endorsed by the British union groups including the TUC, Unite, Equity, the Musicians Union and Bectu as well as global arts union UNI MEI and the European Coordination of Independent Producers. Brendan Barber, general secretary of the TUC, said the study stressed that "the growth of unauthorised downloading and streaming of copyrighted works was a major threat to the creative industries in terms of loss of employment and revenues. The scale of the problem is truly frightening now". – let alone in the future if no firm actions against illegal filesharing are taken. If there was ever the proof needed to demonstrate why the Digital Economy Bill is imperative for the protection of our creative industries, this report is it."
Geoff Taylor, chief executive of the UK music industry body the BPI, added "we're approaching a tipping point where investment in our talent will dry up due to mass illegal downloading".
"That won't just be a problem for the music industry, or even the entertainment sector as a whole. It will do serious damage to the UK economy and destroy huge numbers of jobs."
The report comes after research from Skillset, the industry body which supports training in the media, warned that half of British media companies believe they have a 'skills gap', with a shortage of talent in crucial areas such as digital technology and broadcast engineering, as well as a lack of commercial knowledge in some areas.
Its report, Strategic Skills Assessment for the Creative Media Industries, shows that graduates now make up 73% of the workforce, compared to 66% in 2003, and more than half of their degrees are in media. But the proportion of people with relevant technical or vocational qualifications is a mere 7%.
One in four employers say more training is needed in multiplatform content and new technology, while one in 10 argue that greater management and leadership skills are a priority.
