FAC statement on file-sharing

[XeRocks81]

the FAC (Featured Artist Coalition) had a big meeting last week and put out this.
 //http://tinyurl.com/yejo49p

25th September 2009

Last night at a very special meeting took place at Air Studios in London. It was an unprecedented gathering of artists who all met in the spirit of collaboration and with the aim of discussing the very challenging issue of file-sharing and how it affects the lives of so many artists and all the people that support them in creating the music that we all know and love.

The statement below is the result of that meeting.  If you are an artist or music industry organisation and you agree with what has been stated below, let us know by writing to mailto:addmyname@featuredartistscoalition.com">addmyname@featuredartistscoalition.com and we'll add your name to the list of signatories.

The Air Statement:

We the undersigned wish to express our support for Lily Allen in her campaign to alert music lovers to the threat that illegal downloading presents to our industry and to condemn the vitriol that has been directed at her in recent days.

Our meeting also voted overwhelmingly to support a three-strike sanction on those who persistently download illegal files, sanctions to consist of a warning letter, a stronger warning letter and a final sanction of the restriction of the infringer's bandwidth to a level which would render file-sharing of media files impractical while leaving basic email and web access functional.

Obviously there's a lot of brits here so I wonder if you guys have any thoughts on this.

[Jem]

Whoopee! That should stamp it out once and for all. A plan to lobby Goverments across the world to introduce legislation to sanction a series of really rather cross letters.  :roll:

"Dear downloader, now look here, this has jolly well got to stop you beastly teenager. Else we'll jolly well make sure that you can still send and receive emails with no trouble at all so please don't sue us under the human rights act for infringement of personal liberties. And we'll tell your Dad.

Best wishes,

The Music Industry xx"

[Pedro]

 

[DannySoisSage]

Exhibit A

Sounds like business is tough at record label Universal Music.

Falling CD sales hammered its profits - down 23% to £186million in the first six months of the year.

That's despite buying the rights to legendary crooner Frank Sinatra's back catalogue of hits.

Universal, with artists from U2 to Lady GaGa, is doing better selling digital music, with sales up 29%.

Parent firm Vivendi's profits rose 12.9% to £2.6billion on sales up 17%.

Exhibit B



Exhibit C

Lily Allen:

The days of me making money from recording music has been and gone as far as I'm concerned, so I don't stand to profit from legislation. Except future purchases of previously recorded material.

Translated:

I've made enough money from two albums and five years of touring to give up already.

While all these fucking fat cats are sat around making millions it's very easy to say 'oooh god file-sharing is so terrible' but absolute bollocks to them. The bands who it really affects are doing something about it by embracing new technology and by making their material available in ways that people are openly accepting and giving up lots of money. Hence the continued existence of bands like Marillion and Spock's Beard, the massive success of In Rainbows, and the ability of a band such as Frost* to continue to grow in popularity without a heavy touring schedule. I don't think it's unfair to say that  a band like Frost* couldn't, or would struggle to exist without the internet. Funny to say then that Lily Allen wouldn't have a career without the internet and PEOPLE LISTENING TO HER FUCKING MUSIC FOR FREE.

Yeah file-sharing is a problem. You know what though, the music industry has had it too fucking easy for a long time. The people at the bottom are still having to work as hard and for as little as they ever did. Threaten these big douchebags and their rich as fuck lifestyle and they'll jump over their mother's rotting corpse to get their money back. WE. DON'T. OWE. YOU. ANYTHING.

Here's an idea. Make some good music because you love to make it. Release it in the ways that your fans ask you to. And work your fucking arse off to make it work. Like everybody else in every other job in the world has to!

Angry letters, ffs. Get back in the studio or on stage where musicians belong. Take care of yourself and you will make your money.

/rant. Sorry!  :shock:

[Pajter]

/rant. Sorry!  :shock:

Excellent post! Couldn't agree more.

[Mooncat]

Have to agree with Danny in places here - the bands who are most affected are looking at ways to embrace technology and still get a product that people pay for, not whining about how many people are getting there stuff for free.

I also think there is another positive argument - is it not the case that some people will download music or artists that they are curious about, the same as they would've borrowed the cd from a library or mate in the past. This is not robbing the artist of any record sales as these people wouldn't have bought it in the first place, but by the music being heard by a wider audience, so potentially more tickets are sold for gigs or more interest is generated in the artist.

Again this only applies to bigger, subsidised artists - I can guarantee some bands would actually love a million plus people hearing their music and therefore becoming fans, regardless of whether they paid for it.

I also heard a great quote from the guy from Reverend And The Makers, something along the lines of "Why don't these artists put there energy in to trying to get something done about the real problems in the world/society today, like global warming , the wars in Iraq/Afghanistan, crime etc etc rateher than moaning about people getting music for free"

[Gman]

Agree with Mooncat's points there - I wonder why people illegally download.

- the "I don't want to pay anyfink and sod everyone else cos I'm just self centred" mentality
- they think CDs, DVDs etc are overpriced
- it's hard work returning a CD you don't like

I used to download stuff so I could listen to it before buying it, I've got a case full of stuff I bought that I liked one song of. Now that's not so much of an issue thanks to Spotify and Myspace (and more band's generally offering previews on their sites).

If I downloaded something and liked it, I bought it. Simple as that.

[Philadelphia]

It would be interesting to see what people spend on "culture" one can purchase now compared to twenty years ago. And with that I mean taking everything into account - inflation, increase in population, changes of format and all that. Put everything from stereos and massive wannabe-cinema-systemy-things and all the latest computer games to iTunes downloads and gig tickets and discount DVDs into the mix and see what percentage of income is being spent now compared to then. I don't think there'll be much of a difference. People just buy different things, surely? I'm sure I've heard that DVD sales, compared to what VHS were 10-15 years ago, are massive and that the focus has shifted from music to films and stuff.

And let's be honest about something. There are SO many more musicians out there trying to make a living from their creativity now than there were. Which I think is great, and more power to them. But not everyone who owns a computer and a legal copy of Logic can survive on that.


But hey, I like to purchase what I enjoy. And now that my funds have been low and I haven't been able to buy many albums I've found myself not downloading and listening to any new music at all, really. It's just not the same to me. I just have to look back on a time when I bought so many CDs released by InsideOut (thanks to downloading) that they should've paid for my broadband! (:-P

[Geddy Lee]

Agree with Mooncat's points there - I wonder why people illegally download.

- the "I don't want to pay anyfink and sod everyone else cos I'm just self centred" mentality
- they think CDs, DVDs etc are overpriced
- it's hard work returning a CD you don't like

I used to download stuff so I could listen to it before buying it, I've got a case full of stuff I bought that I liked one song of. Now that's not so much of an issue thanks to Spotify and Myspace (and more band's generally offering previews on their sites).

If I downloaded something and liked it, I bought it. Simple as that.

The main reason that I "illegally" download is this...........everything I "illegally" download is deleted. If the fat arseholes who run these poor moneyless record companies could actually be bothered to release the damn things again on cd then I would only be too pleased to BUY the things. But they don't so I download it. I think it's all a bit too late now to be honest...the door is open and the horse has bolted.