The global initiative is calling on musicians to install a 5mm 0.1g microchip, which can alert them to the exact GPS location of their instrument. Anipo, which describes itself as the ‘international solidarity network for fighting the theft of musical instruments’, says that stick the tiny chip to your guitar, violin and any other instrument, will help crack down on the trafficking and resale of stolen instruments.
Anipo Creator Cyrille Gerstenhaber explained: “Anipo proposes to help musicians fight against the trafficking and resale of stolen instruments via a simple electronic identification process. “Thanks to a passive and safe microchip, which does not emit electronic waves, if the instrument is stolen and scanned it will be automatically connected and trackable via the Anipo international community.”
A chip can be attached to any non-metal part of an instrument. After installation, musicians can register the chip’s unique number on Anipo’s website. For the initiative to work, retailers and dealers need to get on board too, as they’ll need to scan any second-hand instruments trying to be sold to them for the chips, which they can do with a simple mobile app.
The technology is similar to the type used to track lots dogs and cats, and once a chip is scanned, the original owner will get a notification on their mobile phone revealing the exact location of their instrument. Anipo hopes that in the future, microchips will be able to help identify instruments at customs boarders at airports, where officials are likely to confiscate items suspected of contacting illegal substances. Hopefully an initiative like Anipo’s will help make life a little less stressful for working musicians.
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