Culture Bully Asks: Is Lily Allen Full of Shit?
[photo by Jon Behm]
On September 16 Lily Allen wrote a post on her MySpace blog condemning file-sharing, noting how it contributes to the loss of “millions” of jobs, and that “The internet is the most amazing thing, but it should be OUR thing, and ironically piracy is just playing into the hands of the corporations.”
In response to Allen’s thoughts, Muse frontman Matt Bellamy publicly replied, suggesting a need for additional ISP taxation and a pay-for-use scale that charges more as more data is transferred. “Usage should have a value. Someone who just checks email uses minimal bandwidth, but someone who downloads 1 gig per day uses way more, but at the moment they pay the same. It is clear which user is hitting the creative industries and it is clear which user is not, so for this reason, usage should also be priced accordingly.”
This led up to a blog post created by Allen last Sunday where she wrote an open letter concerning her position on file sharing.
“Letter To All Artists”
“I feel really strongly about file sharing. I see it having a damaging effect on British music — especially on emerging artists. Overall the internet’s had a great effect on music and been crucial in helping people like me break through. But file sharing is different to legal streaming or making some music available as promotion. File sharing eats away at opportunity for new artists: by cutting off income at the most crucial, cash-strapped point in their careers and by limiting A&R’s ability to sign new acts outside of the mainstream…”
Following that, Allen posted a series of thoughts on Twitter, revisiting a number of points from her blog post,
3:34 AM Sep 24th from web “hello, there is a meeting today in london where artists are meeting to discuss Piracy. my job done.”
3:44 AM Sep 24th from web “i wont be attending the meeting because it’s going to be a press frenzy and i don’t want to detract from the issues”
3:47 AM Sep 24th from web “i’m proud of the fact that that i’ve been involved with this debate but i’m passing the baton on to other artists.”
3:47 AM Sep 24th from web “and i’ve shut down the blog, the abuse was getting too much.”
[Lily Allen has apparently not heard of Google cache]
And for the sake of discussion it should also be noted that Allen also claimed to be quitting the music industry this past week and got into an online squabble with industry insider Bob Lefsetz (which led MOG to comment, “So now she wants to sue until the internet era suddenly ends AND keep people from calling her out. Yeah, that’ll work. Keep kicking at the ocean, kid.”).
One hundred different points could be made for or against one hundred different aspects of this argument, but for now let’s try to focus on just one (subsequently one that has been validated year in and year out): On the whole, file sharers buy more music than those who do not. Does Allen have actual evidence suggesting that job loss is a direct result of illegal file sharing? Does she have an analysis that reflects her accusation suggesting that “the majority of British artists are against file sharing, because it will harm British music.” Or does that even matter? Does she have a point either way?
Regardless of how adorable you may or may not think she is, and despite how enjoyable her music may or may not be to you, the question is this: is Lily Allen full of shit?
She should have been at that meeting after ranting about it. Allen could become an icon in the crusade to ‘stop’ file sharing. What I don’t get is how she says it hurts some musicians and she only speaks on the financial area, yes it does hurt their pockets but it gets their name out there!
Who know…if you say it stand by it.
No no no. File sharing is just one way to get information across like any other form of technology. Just embrace the fact that its something that has to be done and that every can listen to you music if they really want to and if they really support u buy your music. That was a dead subject and only pursuing further action will divert the real needs of listeners into more streamed free music. Sorry Lilly allen. Listener one Lilly Allen, zero. =)
From TorrentFreak yesterday,
“Yesterday, despite saying that she would not attend due to a feared media scrum, Allen attended a meeting in London of around 100 musicians including representatives from FAC in order to find some common ground to move forward…
Having ruled out going after individual file-sharers in court, they have put all of their eggs in a single basket which relies on ISPs taking disconnection action against alleged pirates. It is hugely unlikely that they will support these watered-down proposals but we won’t have to wait long to find out. According to The Times, the labels will meet this morning and are expected to draft a letter to Lord Mandelson shortly.”
So now the idea that is being pushed is to throttle bandwidth of suspected filesharers (three strikes rule)… huh? High data transmissions can occur from anything from streaming video to downloading from iTunes to online gaming to typical site maintenance. Doesn’t seem to me like they’re thinking this through.
Oh, and for what it’s worth – Ars Technica posted this yesterday, “The major music labels say that they stand to lose £200 million this year in the UK alone thanks to Internet file-sharing. But one of the country’s biggest ISPs is now slinging around some huge numbers of its own, saying it will actually cost ISPs £365 million a year to adopt “three strikes” rules meant to stem piracy.”
Some more info here: http://techdirt.com/blog.php?tag=lily+allen