Illegal File Sharing - from Blogspot!
Big Media Debate Alert!
Lots of fuss in the blogosphere about file-sharing and illegal downloading this week. It all started when Peter Mandelson (the Government’s Business Secretary) pledged last week to go after people who download music illegally and punish them by cutting off their broadband, slowing down their connections, or preventing them from getting internet access.
This provoked an angry response from a group called the FAC (Featured Artists Coalition), a group of musicians including representatives from Blur, Radiohead, and Pink Floyd. Their point was that people who fileshare are music fans, and they help create a buzz around music by passing it around. This eventually leads to more people hearing about it, and more people legally buying it or going to see live shows. Basically, illegal file-sharing is like free advertising. You can read what they have to say here.
After this article was published, the wonderful Lily Allen wrote a blog on her MySpace (read it here) disagreeing with the FAC. Her basic point is that it’s all very well when you’re Radiohead, Blur, or, indeed, Lily Allen - you can have sell out tours and people will buy your music legally. But, she argues, when you are an emerging or new artist with no money behind you and nothing to fall back on, then file sharing can cripple you and prevent you from ever getting an album made.
This got a big response, including Matt Bellamy from Muse and Bjorn from Abba, and led Lily to post a second blog (here) and then start a brand new purpose built blog: The blog consists of an open letter from Lily Allen to musical artists around the world asking them to support her in supporting emerging and new artists who are less able to sustain the financial losses that file-sharing brings about by finding solutions to the problem. So far, James Blunt, Gary Barlow, Tinchy Strider, Taio Cruz, Natasha Khan (Bat For Lashes), Tim Rice-Oxley (Keane) and Patrick Wolf have responded and it was only set up yesterday… She also has an interesting response to 50 Cent’s views.
This is an ongoing debate which is highly relevant to your MEST3 New Media topic - read the blogs, follow the debate, keep on top of it - and have your own view. We have all (probably) illegally downloaded music. Will this stop us? What will? What would make you buy music legally?
See you in Media Lessons!
Mr Hildrewhttp://idontwanttochangetheworld.blogspot.com/
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