Lilly Allen, File Sharing And My Thoughts

In the last week or so Lilly Allen has caused a bit of a stir on line with her “blog”. Well calling it a bit of a stir is an under statement, more like a shit storm. I can’t link to what she wrote, because she has taken the offending postings down. However I did get a chance to read them before they were removed. Basically Lilly came out in support of the Labour Governments plan to remove repeat file sharers from the web.

Since the shit storm, Lilly has backed down a little or in her words “had a rethink” and is now in favour of not disconnecting them but cutting the amount of band width down that they can use.

See I can understand Labour coming up with their blinkered bought view. Lets face it they have taken the music industries money. And yes we can argue that Lilly has also.

But there is a difference.

Lilly stated that file sharing hurt artists and stops new talent being discovered. I disagree, the music industry has been exploiting musicians and ripping off the public for decades. Which they were able to get away with while they were the gatekeepers to what we got to see and hear.

But the music industry got caught napping. The internet came along, and as it has in so many other industries it has removed the gatekeeper. For the music fan the internet has been a positive thing. It has forced down the price of owning music, from cd’s to being able to get individual tracks as downloads.

Yes there is still lots of music that gets downloaded for free. But it is incorrect to assume that these are lost sales. Very often these are people that would never of bought the record anyway

For years now musicians have made their money from touring and merchandise, and not record sales. The only people profiting from the record sales are the record companies.

Musicians need to get fans to come along to the concerts and buy merchandise. How do they do that? Have as many people listen to their music as possible. With the logic being “oh I like that group I’ll go and see them play live”. The only thing that I can see that will get in the way of this is if the artist/musicians involved get a rep for miming to their songs when playing live. That is unforgivable. Plus will put fans off from going to see them live.

Maybe Lilly could answer the question from all the money that the RIAA has gotten in the fines awarded by the courts in the US, how much of that has actually made it back to the artists?

Despite what Lilly has said the internet has made it easier for new artists. It has enabled them to build a fan base, and get their music out to the public easier. It has also enabled established acts to connect with their fans in a more direct way. In fact it has removed the barrier of entry for the artists of getting their music out there.

Now I can see why there were personal attacks on Lilly from the online community. They felt that Lilly was attacking them. Which in a way I think she was. But that doesn’t justify the personal attacks. I think you can debate/discuss the issues and the points raised without getting personal. If you make it personal then how can you ever hope to change a persons mind with your reasoned argument? That person won’t be listening to what you have to say.

I feel sorry for Lilly. I don’t think she realised how much her fans, and the public feel about this subject. If Lilly reads this which I doubt she ever will, I would like to invite her up North to discuss this subject on camera over a cuppa while out with my dogs. I think it would make a great vidcast. One day, one of these celebs will accept the invite and then I’m done for as I won’t be prepared.