Hands off our brand - Italy's Mixed By Erry music pirates stand up to Amazon

Three Italian brothers who were once pioneers of music piracy and mix-tape moguls now claim they are being ripped off by Amazon.

In the late 1970s, in the tough Forcella neighbourhood of Naples, Enrico Frattasio dreamed of being a disc jockey. He found the best way to share his love of the best new tunes from Italy and abroad was to make mix-tapes. With the help of his two brothers, Angelo and Giuseppe, he created his own label and brand Mixed by Erry.

At the peak of their fame, the brothers were employing 100 people and selling 200,000 pirated audio cassettes a week.

But as loopholes in Italy’s copyright laws closed, their empire was squeezed out of action, and the brothers found their love and music and entrepreneurial efforts had landed them on the wrong side of the law.

Spool forward a few decades, and they are the subjects of a Netflix movie, Mixed by Erry (2023), and their brand is once again becoming well known.

Now they are turning to the law once again, this time to defend their registered brand, against copyright infringements by Amazon.

Euronews journalist Luca Palamara met the brothers in Naples. You can watch his report in the video player above.