brief / approach

...I am very proud of designing this logo - even though & especially because not long after the launch of the campaign a major survey (I think by Gramophone magazine..?) discovered the practice  wasn't as widespread as the tabloid-style scare stories claimed - and even more damning, it didn't make any noticable difference to sales as it wasn't used to make the bootleg copies for resale that the BPI were paranoid about..!

backstory

...the BPI originally launched a competition amonst record companies & music industry design studios to design a logo to warn people off and try and stop the widespread practice of  'home taping' - which mainly seemed to be transfering an often new vinyl LP onto a casstte - usually so you could play it on something portable like a 'ghetto blaster' or a Walkman...

...Dave Robinson, Stiff's MD, was on the BPI's committee - which mainly compromised of the heads of the major labels and hardly any of the perjoritively-percieved irreverent new independent labels...

 ...Dave was very keen that we,  a delibertly cheeky indie with an anti-establishment attitude, should win the competition - which i'm chuffed to say we did...

  ...sadly & annoyingly for me the BPI renaged on the prize offer and never paid up - consequently I've always promoted 'home taping' as an act of autonomous  anti--authoritarianism..!