The UK’s creative industries and artists have been discussing file-sharing in public recently. Ever since business secretary Lord Mandelson outlined his plan to bring in legislation similar to the Eircom/IRMA agreement here to boot off file-sharers after three warnings, musicians have been writing letters and blog posts about the issue. The problem though is that no-one can agree on anything.
As part of the FAC (Featured Artists Coalition), a team of musicians including Billy Bragg, Pink Floyd’s Nick Mason and Blur’s Dave Rowntree have criticised Mandelson’s plans with Mason quoted as saying “The last thing we want to be doing is going to war with our fanbase. File-sharing means a new generation of fans for us”.
As pointed out though by Lily Allen on her myspace blog , that’s all well and good for established artists like Pink Floyd, Radiohead and Blur but what about emerging artists? Allen’s thoughts are perhaps more realistic as they reflect a more recent successful artist who knows she’s lucky to have paid off her record company advance. Ms. Allen also quite rightly reasons that as record company bosses “start to lose big from piracy, they’re not slashing their salaries – they’re pulling what they invest in A&R,” meaning less room for development and less room for new acts. Her blog sparked replies from both Matt Bellamy of Muse and James Blunt, neither who agreed with her point of view entirely. Allen has since set up a blog at http://idontwanttochangetheworld.blogspot.com to post her fellow artists reactions to her post (which she’s now deleted due to insulting comments). Continue Reading..»
Every week until Oxegen arrives (see counter to the right there for exact days), Day & Night have a pairs of weekend camping tickets to the festival that is bringing you such acts as Blur, Kings of Leon, The Killers, The Script, Bloc Party, Lily Allen, Nine Inch Nails, Crystal Castles and a gazillion more.
All you have to enter the competition is answer to the question below by finding it in current edition of Day & Night supplement in the Irish Independent today (June 12th with Chris Cornell on the cover).
What gig is reviewed in this week’s Day & Night?
HOW TO ENTER: Find the answer in the magazine, then turn to page 17 for details on how to enter by text and phone.
What is is with public figures sharing way too much of their life with us lately? The internet has always been a good medium for ephemeral nuggets of information but since when did it become acceptable to air your professional grievances or personal experiences in public for everybody to read? These days pop stars are less mysterious than ever and it’s not a good thing.
Last week, Erykah Badu had a baby girl. How do we know? Herself and her husband tweeted about the event AS IT HAPPENED. At first, she began with “Morning, I’m in labor” before telling her then 4500 followers (it’s doubled since) how long was between contractions. As Erykah prepared to have the baby, her husband, producer Jay Electronica kept things going on Twitter – “Labor has begun. Stand back. No hospitals. No doctors. No medicine. We’re waiting for the midwife to show.” He followed that with updates on her water breaking, how much she had dilated and then bizarrely this – “I see the head, full of hair.” After the pregnancy, the couple posted updates extolling their experiences and they later announced the newborn’s name on Twitter.
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