Happy World IP Day!
On April 26th, 1970, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Convention entered into force. Thirty years later, in 2000, WIPO’s member states chose to name April 26th as World Intellectual Property (IP) Day to celebrate and educate the public on IP, including by highlighting the benefits that protection and enforcement of IP bring to WIPO member states and their citizens. WIPO designates a theme for each year. Themes from past years include Women and IP, Digital Creativity, and Movies: A Global Passion. This year’s theme is IP and Music: Feel the Beat of IP.
Strong copyright protection, including for music, movies and television content, video games, and books and journals, is paramount to the health of the creative industries and the U.S. economy. The copyright industries are highly valuable sectors that employ millions of workers and make up a majority of the digital economy domestically. In 2023, the core copyright industries added more than $2 trillion to the U.S. GDP. In 2021, WIPO found that the copyright industries contributed an average of 5.54% of the total GDP in the 50 member countries surveyed – including developed, emerging, transition, and developing economies across every continent. Countries that provide strong copyright protections – such as the U.S. and France – had margins far exceeding the average (11.99% and 7.02%, respectively). Countries where copyright protection is lacking – such as Ukraine and Argentina – had margins far below average (2.85% and 4.70%, respectively). Protecting the works that creators produce enables them to continue producing by allowing them to put food on the table and invest back into their creative pursuits.
Turning to this year’s World IP day theme, IP and Music: Feel the Beat of IP, the creation and dissemination of a single song requires significant collaboration and investment of several artists, creators, and other entities that support the creative process. This creative activity would not be possible without a robust legal system for protection and enforcement of copyrights. For example, a young girl in New Zealand is able to stream Miley Cyrus’s The Climb because two writers, four publishers, the Australasian Performing Right Association, a licensed manufacturer, several session musicians, sound engineers, a producer, Walt Disney Records, and of course Miley herself all worked together to record, license, register, and disseminate copies of the song. This cooperation enables a consumer to purchase a CD, stream a song from a subscription service, download music from a digital point of sale, or purchase a vinyl from a local record shop.
Furthermore, music inspires many other creative mediums and adds depth to movies, television, and other forms of creative expression. For example, the movie Rocketman (2019) was inspired by the life and career of musical legend Elton John and his exhilarating songs such as Tiny Dancer and Bennie and the Jets. The movie A Hard Day’s Night (1964) was similarly inspired by the experiences and music of the Beatles, and Purple Rain (1984) showcased the awe-inspiring talents of Prince. There have been many beloved stage-to-screen adaptations of musicals, including The Sound of Music (1965), West Side Story (1961 and 2021), and Chicago (2002). Hollywood has even made inspiring documentaries on the lives of musicians such as The Last Waltz (1978) and Madonna Truth or Dare (1991). There have been many important biopics featuring musicians, including What’s Love Got to Do with It (1993), Ray (2004), and Walk the Line (2005). Music inspires and enhances popular video games – Dance Dance Revolution gets players moving and grooving to their favorite hit songs, and Guitar Hero has inspired people to learn to play musical instruments. The soundtracks written for video games are crafted with emotion – hearing a few notes of the iconic Super Mario Brothers theme song can conjure images of collecting coins and dodging turtles. Novels like the New York Times Bestseller Daisy Jones and the Six, inspired by the legendary music scene of the late sixties, the many biographies of musicians, and educational books on the history and influence of music serve to educate and stimulate readers. Music is not only a vital creative pursuit in its own right, it underpins other important art forms and inspires continued innovation and creativity.
Music is essential to a flourishing creative economy. According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry’s 2025 Global Music Report, the music industries contributed US$29.6 billion to the global economy in 2024. That is more than $1 billion in growth in one year. Continuing that success is imperative to the economy worldwide and the health of the creative communities in every neighborhood. Yet, challenges remain. The music industry continues to be stunted by pervasive online piracy. For example, the most prominent form of music piracy in Argentina, Chile, and Indonesia (to name a few), is stream ripping. Stream ripping is a method of piracy that allows users to create unauthorized local copies of streamed content that is licensed only for streaming on a video website such as YouTube. This method of piracy allows the user to listen to a song whenever and wherever they wish, without paying for a licensed download, streaming subscription, or accessing the stream on a licensed platform. Stream ripping harms both legitimate streaming services and channels for authorized downloads.
IIPA encourages you to celebrate World IP day by thinking about the many ways that music influences our daily lives. Does music motivate you to exercise, is it the soundtrack for road trips with family and friends, or is it there to lift your spirits in times of need? We also hope that you spend some time enjoying your favorite music, which is legally available for your enrichment and enjoyment in many diverse ways!
