Member Profile - Toby Daniel|Business Development Manager @ Time+Space
Toby Daniel is the Business Development Manager at Time+Space Distribution Limited in the United Kingdom. He is also very involved with IMSTA and its agenda. Since joining IMSTA, Toby has always been at the forefront of all the action when it came to new initiatives and support for IMSTA. We had the opportunity to interview Toby and hear what he had to say about software piracy.
Toby, could you please tell us a bit about yourself?
I originally came from a financial background. I am a qualified Chartered Certified Accountant and I worked as an auditor and business advisor for 19 years before joining Time+Space in October 2006.
During those 19 years I worked with a number of clients from within the music industry, most notably Time+Space and my relationship with them lasted nearly 10 years before I joined, so I was not a complete ‘outsider’ when I joined them.
I had always been highly impressed with the dynamism and commitment to quality service that Time+Space represented and the way in which it had always responded positively to the changing environment within the music industry. It was a company that was always in a position to adapt quickly to face the day to day challenges of a fast-moving world and that made the move a very attractive proposition indeed.
<<Toby Daniel
How did you get involved with Music? Do you play an instrument?
I have always been a great music lover of varying genres from rock bands to dance music and punk rock through to classical music. However, apart from a brief spell as a rather poor bass player in a school ‘new wave’ band in the mid-eighties I have never played an instrument with any level of seriousness! However, my wife is a very competent pianist which has clearly rubbed off on our 2 children who play a number of instruments at their local primary school which I am absolutely delighted about. I love live music and was very fortunate in my formative years to have had a couple of local venues where the likes of U2, Genesis, Dire Staits et al would appear on their nationwide tours in the days well before the phrase ‘ Stadium Rock’ was coined.
How does Time+Space approach the software piracy problem?
Time+Space operates a zero-tolerance policy towards software pirates. We spend significant amounts of time and effort having rogue web sites taken down and making referrals to trading standards offices where there have been clear and repeated offences. Regrettably, the law enforcement agencies often seem unable to devote the resources necessary to bring offenders to account and so our role also involves advising on the various forms of software protection available to our developers so that cracked copies of software become increasingly difficult to create. I suppose you would call it prevention as opposed to a cure.
Why did you feel that it was important for Time+Space to join IMSTA?
At Time+Space we felt that we owed it not only to ourselves but also to the developers that we represent to join a body dedicated to the protection of the rights of the creators of the software. We have found by previous experience that when we have taken action in piracy-related matters, far more has been achieved when we have acted together with other parties rather than on our own. To have a single organization specifically for the purpose of counteracting the pirates and their agents makes perfect sense and sends out a message that Time+Space is very keen to support.
How can Time+Space benefit from its membership in IMSTA?
The benefit to us of being a member of IMSTA is quite clear – in this industry we are all dependent upon one another. To a certain extent a ‘united we stand’ policy applies as increased piracy leads to lower demand for developers’ products which affects us all in a very negative way, not to mention the moral issue of stealing property that someone has invested time, money and a little part of themselves in………
Anything you want to say to the pirates out there reading this?
To the pirates I would simply say that if you continue to break the law by stealing the creative work of others then in time, there will be nothing left to steal. BUY THE SOFTWARE YOU USE.
Time + Space Team - Okehampton, UK
© Copyright IMSTA 2007
BUY THE SOFTWARE YOU USE