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Lily Allen Opposes Illegal Downloading

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Gossip, Industry News,

Lily Allen

has blasted Radiohead for their attitude to illegal downloading.

The “Smile” singer attacked the Featured Artists Coalition (FAC) - whose members include the group’s guitarist Ed O’Brien - for not considering new artists when airing their views on file sharing. She wrote on her MySpace blog:

“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 don’t seem to think so. 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…I’m going to be writing to British artists, saying just this: File sharing’s not okay for British music. We need to find new ways to help consumers access and buy music legally, but saying file sharing’s fine is not helping anyone - and definitely not helping British music.”

Lily’s comments came after members of the FAC - including Travis singer Fran Healy and Blur drummer Dave Rowntree - called for the government to abandon proposals to cut off the internet connections of people who illegally download music.


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Zune gunning for iTunes, Amazon, Rhapsody, and file sharers

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Microsoft, Music, Software,

Zune Top Songs

is definitely looking to bring it with the in recent weeks. You just know that they have to have something, like the , up their sleeves. I mean, they must have something going on, because all of a sudden they are getting bold with their advertising and claims. First came Wes Moss, their smarmy financial planner who explains why the Zune Pass is the best deal in music (even though it truly is.) Now, they’ve set up a section within the Zune Player itself that let’s you grab all the top songs from the top 100 offerings on iTunes, Rhapsody, Amazon, and even File Sharing (how would they know)?

What do you think? What would it take to get you to consider Zune as a music service, if not as a device?


Should the Record Industry Offer Free Music?

Music Glue logoAn interesting meeting took place during the Song Summit Sydney (S3) in Australia. Mark Meharry, co-founder of Music Glue, said that consumers are changing and that the record industry will have to respond to the fact that there is now much more file sharing as opposed to purchase. He says that downloaders are music fans, not thieves.

Considering the fact that the current generation can get what they want without spending a dime, Meharry suggests they let the music be free and concentrate on other products available, such as music players or concert tickets. Some of the bands listed on Music Glue, which was started about a year ago, offers free downloads in exchange for an e-mail addy or small donation. We like the idea but suspect that this is a debate that will not end for quite a while.

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