It’s clear that BPI CEO Geoff Taylor has his hands full. As the head of the UK record industry’s trade association, he has had a long slog trying to get the British government, as well as the country’s ISPs, to take the issue of illegal downloads seriously.

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In July, the BPI - after two years of hammering away - signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Britain’s six largest ISPs, who agreed to work with the organisation to try to stop illegal downloads, including sending out written warnings to customers caught pirating content. During the EconMusic keynote interview with Staci D. Kramer, co-editor and EVP of our parent ContentNext Media, Taylor said he believed the ISPs would honour their commitments, adding “ISPs cannot wash their hands of [this issue], they have a responsible role to play.”

But the question remains: how far ISPs are willing to go? While the BPI is hoping that ISPs will soon ramp up to sending out 1,000 letters a week to offending customers, ISPs have obviously been strong-armed into the agreement. One audience member from ISP Virgin Media (NSDQ: VMED) wanted to know, would an ISP be compensated for disconnecting a customer, especially when the downloads were only one part of their activity online? No way, Taylor said, would ISPs be reimbursed for lost business if they do disconnect customers. Taylor was quick to say there were many alternatives to disconnection, including ISPs coming up with their own legal music services. Disconnection remains a hope for the BPI, amongst a proposed three-step procedure, but it’s not something the ISPs committed to in their memorandum.