Dear Featured Artists’ Coalition …
P2P | Music:- The Big 4 corporate record labels are primary drivers behind the Three Strikes and you’re Off The Net business plan which, it’s just been revealed, would cost British taxpayers half a billion pounds.
It’s being floated by Peter ‘Mandy’ Mandelson as part of the Digital Economy plan.
But it’s a purely corporate effort.
Vivendi Universal (France), Sony (Japan), EMI (Britain), and Warner Music (US) repeatedly cite the welfare of musicians in their excuses for demanding the implementation of the scheme, and a major element in corporate PR efforts to popularise it in the UK has been, and still is, the support of the Featured Artists’ Coalition (FAC).
Last month I ran an open letter to the FAC and, as the end of 2009 approaches, I’m running it one more time with the added message >>>
If you want to retain the small amount of goodwill which remains after your betrayal of the people who buy your music, you’d better act. And fast.
We don’t depend on you. But you DO depend on us.
100%.
“Dear (please see below),” I wrote, going on >>>
The chances of Britain’s Labour government retaining power in the upcoming elections are zero. It tries to present itself as forward-looking and progressive, but its continuing efforts to promote corporate entertainment industry interests above those of the people plainly demonstrate it has no clue about what’s happening in the digital 21st century, or how to function within it.
Your members, as well as artists from around the world, must make it clear to your fans, the people who keep you going, that you absolutely will not countenance the government-backed corporate Three Strikes scheme to turn them into criminals.
The inaugural meeting of the U.K.’s Featured Artists’ Coalition (FAC) in London resulted in a unanimous vote among its members against any measures that criminalize file-sharing, said Billboard in March, going on »»»
As well as discussing the general aims and logistics of the new body, there was also a unanimous show of hands against the idea of criminalizing file-sharers, according to those present.
There was concern about any legal body taking action against fans who were involved in file-sharing and preventing them getting broadband access to be informed about the activities of their favorite acts.
Today, still quoting Billboard, I posted on a2f2.com which, not at all incidentally, is short for artists-to-fans-to-artists »»»
The issue came up as artists discussed a planned response to the forthcoming Digital Britain report, the interim version of which has proposed a Rights Agency to enforce anti-piracy measures. In France, legislation is being debated to bring in a three-strikes system to potentially cut off broadband connections for those who infringe copyright a measure to which the FAC is opposed.
Then, six months later, from the FAC »»»
Our meeting … 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.
What an about-face.
All of the attention is presently on Britain but, as I’ve said many times before, the Three Strikes plan is international with Vivendi Universal, EMI, Warner Music and Sony Music, and Disney, News Corp, Time Warner, Viacom, NBC Universal and Sony Pictures, trying to foist it on governments around the world.
I believe artists — the FAC in particular — must come out firmly and definitely against the Three Strikes farce.
So please, hold another emergency meeting and this time, return to your original position.
It’ll take cojones, but it’ll be the strategically and tactically smart thing to do.
Even if it’s adopted, three strikes won’t last. Anywhere. It can’t.
And the backlash against anyone who supports it will be enormous.
We love you. But do you love us?
Show us you do.
______________________________________________
Tim Rice-Oxley (Keane)
Jamie Turner
Adriano Buffone (Raygun)
Allan Bradbury
Helienne Lindvall
Tony Crean
Andrew Laidlaw (Luck Soul)
Isard Haasakker
Tony Morrelli (The Fire Escapes)
Jean-Baptiste Pilon (The Fire Escapes)
Mark Headley (The Fire Escapes)
Hal Ritson (The Young Punx)
Billy Bragg
Ben Ward
Karl Harrison
Howard Jones
Tjinder Singh (Cornershop)
Phil Simpson
Atheen
Steve Jones
John Reynolds
Sandie Shaw (via phone)
David Rowntree (Blur)
Ed O’Brien (Radiohead)
Alan Sharland (The Hoosiers)
Martin Skarendahl (The Hoosiers)
Steven Hogarth (Marillion)
Mark Kelly (Marillion)
Guy Chambers
Patrick Wolf
Sam Duckworth (Get Cape Wear Cape Fly)
Jamie Allen
Toby Sebastian
James Kelly
Beryl Marsden
George Jones
Ross Millard (The Futureheads)
Stax Dempsey
Rona Sentinar
Fran Healy (Travis)
Karl Addy
Nathan Taylor (The Young Punx)
Josh Allegro
Ali Howard (Lucky Soul)
David Arnold
Lucy Pullin (The Fire Escapes)
Annie Lennox (via phone)
Lily Allen (Not a Member of the FAC)
George Michael
Nick Mason (Pink Floyd)
Signed After the meeting;
The Music Producers Guild
John B
Claudia Brucken (Propaganda)
Rick Wilde
Zita McHugh
M B Gordy
Mohammed Yahya
Jon Hopkins
Barry Coffing
Vinny Peculiar
David Ravden
Nik Ledgard (Dry Riser)
Matthew Lintott (Dry Riser)
Pete Bembridge (Dry Riser)
Jack Oram (Dry Riser)
Chad Mcloughlin
Gina Langton
Tony Christie
Sean Fitzgerald
Irving David (DWFM Beckman)
Julianne Reagan (All About Eve)
Stuart Ongley (SGO Publishing)
Judy Dyble
Jonas Kroon
Irwin Sparkes (The Hoosiers)
Robbie Williams
Robert Vale
Jerry Vale
David Cloyd
Rob Boyd (The Hillfields)
Sharon Corr
George Sarah
Bob Hansmann
Rich Wilde
Milinda Allen
Dr Robert (The Blow Monkeys)
Dirk Henry (The Kokoon)
Ben Beer (Sealife)
Chris White (Composer)
Producers Managers Group (PMG)
Marco Pirroni
Brian Campbell (Clinic)
Morty Buffham (Manager of UK Heights)
Andrew Kremer (Composer)
Sharon Dean (Respect Music)
Sarah McQuaid
Gary Clark (Artist, songwriter, producer)|
Marc Marot (Manager)
Keith A. Newstead
Blake Morgan (Engine company Records)
Tom Green (’Another Fine Day’)
Neil Preston (MP Records)
John Verity
Bart Schram (Mindgames)
Koen Gisen (An Pierlé & White Velvet)
Darren Hayes (Savage Garden)
Scott Coe (The Haunted Aquarium)
Miranda Dickinson
Noora Noor
Ali Hakimi (Bush Studios)
Colin MacIntyre (Mull Historical Society)
Rik Hudson (Violet Bones)
David Blake (JFXmusic)
Jo Hilditch (Hilda)
Alastair Blackwood (Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Oscar Mancino
Kevin Hewick
Sean Genockey (Music Producer)
Sam Obernik
Patrick Weyland-Smith (Patrick And The Deep End)
Matthew Lee (Lapskin)
Colin Waterson
Simon Emmerson (The Imagined Village)
Helge Krabye (Homeless Balloon)
Terence McLeod
Fiona Branson
Jake Morley
Jon Attwood (Yellow6)
Adam Donen
Matthew Seligman
Alex Callier (Hooverphonic)
James Reynolds (Public Symphony)|
Dobs Vye (Public Symphony)
Benjamin Evans (Deal Maker Records)
Lyndon Coyne (Bandito Records)
Sofia Hagberg (End of the Road Festival)
James Blunt
Findlay Brown
Brad Rabuchin
KT Tunstall
Kelly Dickson (Mamafeelgood)
Curtis Roush (Film Music Producer)
Mark Muggeridge (Journalist and artist manager)
Sandy Dworniak (This Much Talent)
Tom Jones
Amy Studt
Sam Hammond (Ten Bears)
Russell Lewis Warby (William Morris Endeavor Entertainment)
Carlos Ruivo
David Gilmour
Jools Holland
Ulrich Schnauss
Ken Andrew (Middle of the Road)
Joseph Mount (Metronomy)
Luke Soloman (Freaks)
Tom Shore (Britten Sinfonia)
Neil Tennant (Pet Shop Boys)
Chris Lowe (Pet Shop Boys)
Kirsty Hawkshaw
Glenn Tipton (Judas Priest)
Rob Halford (Judas Priest)
Jayne Andrews (manager for Judas Priest)
Gill Vance (singer/songwriter)
Simon Reid & Louise Stanners (Reid & Stanners)
James Carrington
Tim McConway (Booger Red/The Lunar Society)
James Mathe (Monasteryo)John (JJ) Johnson
Jon Newton – p2pnet (and music fan)
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi
British taxpayers – ‘3 strikes’ cost to UK taxpayers? £1/2 billion, december 28, 2009
January, 2010
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Stay tuned.
December 28th, 2009 at 3:59 pm
The ‘about face’ came about as a result of ’supposed’ abuse of Lily Allen on a forum in which the hypocrisy of
her position was pointed out. It ‘appears’ that the FAC changed it’s position to ‘punish’ the evildoers who supposedly
abused Lily. At least it sure looks that way. After spending time on A2f2a I wouldn’t look for any hope from the members
of the FAC. Privilege counts on status quo and they don’t appear to be any different than any other privileged class. The hand that
feeds them is the labels. The labels want another cash dump ( ISP levy ) that the privileged class will ultimately see the most
benefit from. An ISP tax will mean that they NO LONGER NEED TO WORRY ABOUT BOYCOTTS OF ANY KIND.
That’s what the labels want.
The FAC seem to want what the labels want and fans be damned.
December 28th, 2009 at 8:33 pm
Lily Allen first promoted herself on the net by offering free illegal downloads of mixtapes featuring her music as well as music of other artists. The hypocrisy is astounding.
December 29th, 2009 at 4:53 pm
“An ISP tax will mean that they NO LONGER NEED TO WORRY ABOUT BOYCOTTS OF ANY KIND”
File sharers already don’t pay for the music they download. How do you boycott an industry you are already not paying?
December 29th, 2009 at 5:25 pm
” If you want to retain the small amount of goodwill which remains after your betrayal of the people who buy your music, you’d better act. And fast.” (Comment from a2f2a about this article)
What goodwill? File sharers don’t pay for what they download.
December 29th, 2009 at 6:36 pm
RW:
“File sharers already don’t pay for the music they download.”
Do some research on this, because many of us know otherwise. File sharers tend to pay MORE for music.
“How do you boycott an industry you are already not paying?”
Not paying IS A RESULT of boycotting. You’re putting the cart before the horse.
Also: Not everyone on p2pnet is a file sharer. I’m not. But I do boycott labels with RIAA membership. I prefer to pay for independent music than download major label music for free.
December 29th, 2009 at 6:47 pm
” What goodwill? File sharers don’t pay for what they download. ”
Posting the same thing twice doesn’t make it more true.
As Skid said, the sharers ARE the buyers. The difference is that they no longer have to
shell out for a CD or movie that turns out to be crap, only to not be allowed to get their money back.
Now, they can listen to all of it first, then buy .. and most do. If that wasn’t true, then the entertainment
industry would have shut down in the Napster days, and Adobe Photoshop ( the second most pirated software
ever ) would not exist, since Adobe wouldn’t have been able to pay to continue to develop it.
It is possible to boycott and not fileshare. Buy second hand cd’s and DVD’s, check them out from the local public
library etc .. It’s easy to boycott and still get what you want.
The only ones suffering from sharing are the artists that truly suck ass.
Sadly, that’s about 90% of the Major label offerings.
Just because the labels don’t acknowledge the existence of a boycott, doesn’t mean a boycott isn’t happening.
December 29th, 2009 at 10:12 pm
“they can listen to all of it first, then buy .. and most do” – comment from this article
“People still pay for music?” – from http://www.p2pnet.net/story/33145
So which is it? I hear some say file sharers buy more music but the loudest among you gloat about pirating and not paying. All it takes is one file sharer to brag about not paying or to express that they will never pay for music again and that is what the story is gonna be. If it is true that file sharers do pay more and that most file sharers pay, then you are doing a very poor job at convincing artists of this.
December 29th, 2009 at 10:16 pm
“the sharers ARE the buyers” and “they can listen to all of it first, then buy .. and most do”
Post the data to support those claims.
December 30th, 2009 at 12:39 am
“Post the data to support those claims.”
The data’s been posted all over this site, and all over the Internet.
Filesharers actually ARE the ones spending more on music.
_________________________________
“ ‘they can listen to all of it first, then buy .. and most do’ – comment from this article
‘People still pay for music?’ – from http://www.p2pnet.net/story/33145”
“So which is it?”
Why would you take a comment made by one of a multitude of readers, and then point it back at Jon or the site??
That’s just stupid.
December 30th, 2009 at 4:49 am
Filesharers spend more on music a year than non file sharers. FACT.
http://www.p2pnet.net/story/30570
December 30th, 2009 at 5:06 am
I’ve lost count of the number of artists I’ve discovered by filesharing.
One example: a friend recommended The Smiths to me. Not wanting to spend money on something I may not like (I’m really picky with my music) I downloaded their Best Of. I loved it, bought the Best Of CD and immediately deleted the illegal files. As a result of that, three years later, I now legally own every Smiths CD and I even went on to purchase every Morrissey solo album.
Needless to say, if I hadn’t downloaded The Best Of The Smiths illegally in the first place, I wouldn’t have risked spending my money on Morrissey’s entire back catalogue and my shelf would have 30 less CDs on it.
December 30th, 2009 at 2:14 pm
” Why would you take a comment made by one of a multitude of readers, and then point it back at Jon or the site??
That’s just stupid. ”
DA, you answered your own question
The Troll in this particular thread isn’t even a particularly good one, and we all still bit
( before mr troll bobs in here with ‘just cause I disagree does not make me a troll’ bullshit , What shows you
for what you are is a complete lack of research, regurgitation of tired cliches, and failure to back up any
claim with any referenced fact other than the comment of 1 or 2 posters, which most upright mammals
understand do not reflect the views of the majority here, while there are numerous easily located studies
( oberholzer/strumpf ) that support our claims. Yes, you are a troll and a fool, and we are fools for biting )
December 30th, 2009 at 2:56 pm
@Dredd:
…OR just don’t give the troll any more audience.
