Good grief. Who put Lily Allen up to this? It has become a cliche to bemoan politicians for not “getting it” but where does one start?
The whole POINT about file-sharing is that it enables artists to by-pass record companies. This massive debt that Allen complains about is part of an old, outmoded business plan. To complain about it is to give the game away about what it is that the music industry is really seeking to defend here.
And mix tapes are crap quality? Oh really? So before the internet we didn’t have vinyl, tape and CDs and had to depend solely on (presumably long wave) radio? Anyone would think “Home Taping Is Killing Music” never happened.
But the worse thing about this article is all the cheap knocking copy aimed at Simon Cowell and designed to position Allen as some kind of edgy artist with street cred. Back in 2006 when she first emerged, all that fake housing estate stuff really grated. I actually bought her last album because I thought she’d finally stopped being such a fake. I wish I’d downloaded it illegally now.
If you want to listen to good, unsigned and independent musical acts that don’t have rich mummies and daddies on hand to get them started, I thoroughly recommend you check out EyeSeeSound (the new name for The 411 Show):