File sharers should have bandwidth 'squeezed', UK artists say

File sharers should have bandwidth 'squeezed', UK artists say
A meeting that was called for British musicians to discuss UK government proposals on how to tackle illegal file sharing has come to a consensus that file-sharers should have their bandwidth "squeezed" for persistent copyright infringement. The congregation of more than 100 artists came to the agreement that file sharers should not have their Internet accounts suspended.

Artists including Lily Allen, George Michael, Annie Lennox, Radiohead guitarist Ed O'Brien and Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason signed a statement. It calls for two warning letters to be issued to users when they are caught sharing music illegally before their bandwidth speeds are restricted for certain purposes.



The idea would be to "render sharing of media files impractical while leaving basic e-mail and web access functional." Lily Allen, who was the target of quite a large amount of criticism for running her mouth on the issue while technically breaching copyright law on the exact same website, was applauded by the audience for her campaign to "alert music lovers to the threat that illegal downloading presents to our industry."

Jim Killock, executive director of digital rights activists the Open Rights Group, said that the artists had addressed the symptom, but not the cure, adding that the only answer was to "license products to compete with file-sharing." However, he said major labels are being too cautious to approve some new services.

Written by: James Delahunty @ 26 Sep 2009 14:32
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  • 15 comments
  • miketrev

    LOL, not if the FCC has owt to do with it.

    26.9.2009 15:32 #1

  • fgamer

    OK, and why would the person still pay average price for their service to have dial-up like speeds? I'm sure that'd run the customer away just the same as cutting them off. "miketrev" I thought the FCC is U.S. based only!!

    26.9.2009 18:09 #2

  • H_Seldon

    What is the threat Lily? That the quality of music will go down? It can't go any further down Lily? When music was far cheaper than the record industry moguls have made it since the 1980's, it was far superior, original and 'entertaining' than it has been.

    What will happen is that the ISPs will lose millions of dollars while the performing artists will not see an increase in income, especially the ones who become known for having caused people's internet service to be disrupted.

    Rather than threaten the people who ARE listening to their music, these simpletons need to get away from the labels, and sell their music online at a decent price with super fast download speeds.

    26.9.2009 18:15 #3

  • Hopium

    lily quit directly after this and said she will no longer make music cause she is dumb and didnt know what she was talking about

    27.9.2009 04:44 #4

  • ZippyDSM

    *sigh* people have the right to share period, however they do not have the right to sell, if you don;t like this ideal get a real job and get out of media.

    27.9.2009 10:37 #5

  • windsong

    Stupid c^&#@ would like nothing better than to have everyone just SIGN in with their right hand and check their censored websites and approved emails. No Usenet, Freenet, P2P, Torrents, YouTube, or blogs.

    Those dinosaurs should just go DIE in a corner somewhere.

    27.9.2009 13:32 #6

  • zenno

    what drugs are these artists on. squeezing peoples bandwidth lol thats unconstitutional. and any provider that cooperates with this garbage are insane in the membrane. when will this crap end

    27.9.2009 17:36 #7

  • GryphB

    DON'T TASE ME BRO!

    27.9.2009 20:13 #8

  • DXR88

    Originally posted by GryphB: DON'T TASE ME BRO! Only in America.

    in the uk its more like. DONT SHOOT ME BRO!!

    28.9.2009 13:55 #9

  • kscogg

    there are bands that would give their music away to gain notoriety, for instance the beatles would give singles away at their shows early on. everyone knows bands don't make that much from cd sales, they bank on touring and merchandise sales. i wish they'd quit kidding themselves about sharing. Radiohead gave their last album away for practically nothing, same with The Smashing Pumpkins. The Flaming Lips are doing something similar with their latest. Hopefully more bands start to "get it". You can't shut us down, sharing must go on!

    28.9.2009 15:18 #10

  • windsong

    Originally posted by kscogg: there are bands that would give their music away to gain notoriety, for instance the beatles would give singles away at their shows early on.NIN founder Trent Reznor would hide his stuff in bathrooms at concerts for the fans to discover.

    28.9.2009 17:13 #11

  • kscogg

    thats the way it should be. douchebags like metallica who cried and punished people for sharing prolly lost a lot of fans over it.

    28.9.2009 18:18 #12

  • KillerBug

    Quote:Originally posted by kscogg: there are bands that would give their music away to gain notoriety, for instance the beatles would give singles away at their shows early on.NIN founder Trent Reznor would hide his stuff in bathrooms at concerts for the fans to discover.He also released the last album for free, as well as the first disk of the album before that. He has personaly uploaded numerous live performance video torrents, as well as "Bootlegs" that are super-high quality, sometimes in FLAC 5.1 (these are not technicaly bootlegs, as they are recorded directly from the sources, not from the speekers). He has even gone so far as to upload the dvd versions of some of the older VHS releases, and then saying that he did it so that they do not need to charge the fans for the cost of DVD pressing, and that fans should not feel guilty for downloading it though file sharing services! This all seems to have inspired The Smashing Pumpkins, who are about to release 11 LP's worth of their new music for free as well.

    It seems that Nine Inch Nails and The Smashing Pumpkins both know that they make a lot more money giving their music away while playing to an oversold stadium, than hording their music while being refused by larger venues that they do not have the fanbase for. I hope to see more musicians following this paturn in the near future...Marilyn Manson and David Bowie both seem to be prime candidates.

    29.9.2009 05:21 #13

  • HackYuji

    Lily Allen is simply a joke, nobody cares what she has to say anymore, but when radiohead steps in its some serious buisness.

    1.10.2009 08:54 #14

  • townliar

    Why are people listening to musicians? they are no more important than traffic wardens if my braodband was cut I would switch providers, pick up on an unprotected network or use an internet cafe there are loads of ways around it.

    Is it not the same as recording every episode of lost on a sky box? or as we all did in the old days recvord top of the pops on a sunday night?

    They invent machines to do things then want to ban what they do!

    As for lilly allen....Lily who?

    RIP Lily

    1.10.2009 12:56 #15

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