Lily Allen has used her mySpace blog to have a pop at musicians who aren’t standing up against, or even are actively encouraging, illegal file sharing.
"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 Radiohead don’t seem to think so," writes Allen.
"The Featured Artists Coalition [FAC] 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."
She added that it seemed to be a case of established artists not looking out for newer acts: "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."
Allen added that she would be getting involved in the fight against filesharing herself, writing to other artists saying "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."
