Los Angeles, CA (Top40 Charts / Lobeline Communications) The Web's top cop just got tougher. Established as the world's leading music piracy specialist, Web Sheriff has been making significant inroads into film protection, working with major studios and Hollywood distributors and having protected two U.S. No 1 Box Office movies in the 4th quarter of 2010.
Founder John Giacobbi stated, "2010 was a busy year with movies." Adding, "Our unique blend of anti-piracy and viral marketing has been very successful in film protection."
Founded 10 years ago, Web Sheriff is the premier digital rights and brand protection service for the music industry. Clients have included Michael Jackson, Prince, Dylan, Bryan Adams, Van Morrison, Vampire Weekend and Adele.
Services include protecting movies in the run-up to release, web policing for brands and YouTube optimization - cleaning up video piracy and redirecting hundreds-of-millions of views to official channels.
Giacobbi cites the case of Van Morrison, whose last studio album leaked, yet became the chart-topper of his career, entering Billboard's Top 100 at No 10 and Digital Chart at No 2. "We protected Van's album for a year and maintained a takedown rate of 98 to 99 percent."
Similarly, despite leaking, Adele's latest album is No 1 in the U.K. and outsold the Top 10 combined, with Web Sheriff registering a 99 percent takedown rate. Said Giacobbi, "It's more than a coincidence that these acts, and many more, all had their 'highest ever' achievements when we happened to be protecting their releases."
Unique in anti-piracy is Giacobbi's inclusive approach to fans posting material. Web Sheriff becomes the good cop, posting on blogs, explaining rather than threatening, and redirecting to legitimate promotions and stores. "Fans are the lifeblood of any artist and we engage them in positive ways." Adding, "We turn a negative into a positive by using viral marketing and including fans and bloggers in the marketing and promotion."
Web Sheriff's work is universal in application and includes libel protection, and even closing extreme-violence porn sites and terrorist-related sites for news media.
"On-line abuse is now a reality of everyday life," says Giacobbi. "That's why clients turn to us in ever increasing numbers. There's only one answer to the question 'Who You Gonna Call?' and that's www.websheriff.com."
