Heavyweight music managers sign anti-industry petition
By: Thomas Hannan
This struck us as an interesting one. In its reluctance to embrace the internet and the potential it held for the distribution and enjoyment of music from the start, the British music industry undoubtedly suffered whilst the humble consumer revelled in the wealth of new possibilities now available to them and their adoration of a good tune. The response of the British record industry's trade association, the BPI, in an interesting PR move, was to commence expensive lawsuits against children.
Of course, the ways in which one can download a song via legitimate means through the likes of iTunes and Napster are now more prevalent and easier to use than ever. But why did it take the big boys so long to catch on to the idea of the internet as a great opportunity for all involved, rather than a threat which should be attacked? And why are they still going after young kids and their parents rather than those who make the illegal files available through peer to peer (p2p) file sharing networks?
If this is your concern, then it's one you share with Flowerburger records. They've set up an online petition which can be signed on their website asking that the BPI stop threatening fans with legal action unless they pay sizeable fines. All well and good if a bunch of nobody, Joe Public types sign up, you may think - but this has garnered support from those within the very industry, such as those in charge of The Streets, Elbow and Sum 41 amongst others.
"We believe that musicians have to be paid for their work, but we don't think that suing fans or the parents of kids on £5 a week pocket money is the answer," said Chris Thomas, founder of Flowerburger. "We are supposed to be a creative industry, so we should be exploring ways to earn money for our artists from p2p, not using the destructive force of litigation."
So if that sounds right up your street, then get out your best signing fingers, and head to www.flowerburger.com. We'll see you there.