That's right: a union working for musicians banned a musical instrument. Well, things were a lot different back then… (Image credit: Alenate / Getty) In the early 1980s in the UK, the Musician's Union was often in the headlines. In 1981, for example, this most vocal of unions, along with the British Phonographic Industry and Music Publishers’ Association, took an advert out in The Guardian and The Times claiming that “Home Taping is Wiping Out Music”.