As you would have no doubt noticed if you'd been keeping an eye on the music news wires in the past week, Lily Allen has vociferously spoken out against music piracy - even threatening to quit the business in protest. This hullaballoo began when Allen opposed a Featured Artists Coalition (FAC) objection to a governmental proposal that those found to have downloaded music illegally could possibly have their internet connections shut down.
The FAC met recently to discuss this and a number of members expressed sympathy and support to Allen and also changed their position on the governmental proposal.
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.
Signees include:
Billy Bragg
Tim Rice-Oxley (Keane)
Ed O'Brien (Radiohead)
Patrick Wolf
George Michael
So Lily Allen probably won't be quitting music. We strongly urge James Blunt to consider this though.
-John Balfe
