Productores de Música de España
Productores de Música de España (English: Spanish Music Producers, shortened as Promusicae) is the national organisation responsible for the music charts of Spain. It is a trade association that represents more than 90% of the Spanish recorded music industry.[1] It is the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) group for Spain. Promusicae is based in Madrid, Spain at Calle María de Molina, 39.[2]
History[edit]
Promusicae began in 1958 as a representative of the IFPI in Spain under the name of the Spanish Group of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (Grupo Español de la Federación Internacional de la Industria Fonográfica), although not officially an association, since Spanish law during the Franco regime did not recognize the right of association until 1977. In 1978, it was registered as an association under the name Spanish Phonographic Association (Asociación Fonográfica Española) (AFE). In 1982, with the emergence and popularization of the music video, the AFE changed its name to Phonographic and Videographic Association of Spain (Asociación Fonográfica y Videográfica de España) (AFYVE). Finally, in 2004, AFYVE partners adopted the name, Spanish Music Producers (Productores de Música de España), abbreviated Promusicae, which is also a play on words with the Latin expression "pro musicae", which means "for / in favor of the music". The new name was instituted on 1 January 2005.[3]
Since 30 April 2003, Antonio Guisasola has been president of Promusicae, replacing Carlos Grande.
The charts are calculated once every week on Sundays. They are based on retail music sales within Spain for the week from the preceding Saturday to the Friday prior to calculation. The new charts are usually uploaded to the Promusicae website on Sunday night Spanish continental time. As of January 2015, the Top 100 songs are based on streaming and both download and physical sales.[4]
Promusicae provides the following charts:
Piracy[edit]
As a member of International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), one of Promusicae's main purposes is to lobby for tougher intellectual property laws to stop music copyright violations.[1]
Promusicae has monitored P2P networks gathering data about its users downloading music. In April 2005, Promusicae claimed that they were monitoring the Kazaa P2P network and they had sent "messages" containing warnings and legal threats to more than 10,000 users.[24] In early 2008, Promusicae started a judicial process against Telefónica, the biggest Spanish Internet service provider, demanding that personal data of Kazaa users they monitored should be handed over to Promusicae, so they can start suing them. The Promusicae v. Telefónica case continued until the European Court of Justice ruled that Telefónica did not have an obligation to hand user data over to Promusicae.[25]
In June 2008, Promusicae sued Pablo Soto, developer of Manolito P2P, Blubster, and Piolet. Promusicae claimed that Pablo Soto was engaging in unfair competition and demanded 13 million euros in damages.[26][27]
Promusicae is one of the founders of La Coalición de Creadores e Industrias de Contenidos, a group of companies whose mission is changing Spanish law to be able to prosecute file-sharing.[28]