Philippine Association of the Record Industry

The Philippine Association of the Record Industry (Filipino: Kapisanan ng Industriya ng Plaka ng Pilipinas, abbreviated as PARI) is a non-profit and private trade organization, that represents the recording industry distributors in the Philippines.

The PARI was formed in February 10, 1972 and today composed of 14 corporate members and 13 associate members. Since then, the association had worked with the Congress on drafting music copyright laws and had helped conduct raids on music pirates with the National Bureau of Investigation, Philippine National Police, Criminal Investigation and Detection Group and Optical Media Board.

It is also responsible for awarding music recording certifications in the Philippines. Annually, PARI organizes different music events such as the Awit Awards.

History

In early 1950s, music piracy started to grow in the Philippines. So, in 1952, major recording companies organized the first recording industry association in the country called the Record Industry Association of the Philippines (RIAP). The association was mostly composed of foreign licensees. The first president of RIAP was Manuel P. Villar of Mareco. In 1971, independent record companies decided to bond together and formed the Philippine Recording Industry Association (PRIA). Its primary goal was to promote local records. PRIA elected their first president which was Jose Mari Gonzales of Cinema-Audio. In their years of existence, the two organizations had cooperated with each other in fighting piracy.