Lily Allen hits out at file sharers as Tories mock government plans: “The battle within the music industry over how to deal with internet pirates intensified today as the Conservatives announced their opposition to government plans to disconnect repeat offenders from the internet, and Lily Allen condemned artists who have spoken out against the proposals.
Allen, in a lengthy posting on her blog, criticised “rich and successful artists” such as Ed O’Brien, of Radiohead, and Nick Mason, the Pink Floyd drummer, told The Times that file-sharing had some beneficial effects for artists.
Allen wrote today: “I think music piracy is having a dangerous effect on British music, but some really rich and successful artists like Nick Mason from Pink Floyd and Ed O’Brien from Radiohead don’t seem to think so.
“Last week in an article in The Times these guys from huge bands said file-sharing music is fine. It probably is fine for them. They do sell-out arena tours and have the biggest Ferrari collections in the world.
“For new talent, though, file-sharing is a disaster as it’s making it harder and harder for new acts to emerge.
“The Featured Artists Coalition also says file-sharing’s fine because it ‘means a new generation of fans for us’.
“This is great if you’re a big artist at the back end of your career with loads of albums to flog to a new audience, but emerging artists don’t have this luxury.
“Basically the FAC is saying, ‘we’re alright, we’ve made it, so file-sharing’s fine’, which is just so unfair to new acts trying to make it in the industry.”