The Costanza

Lily Allen, who formerly believed music piracy was bad, has changed her mind stating she “doesn’t care” if someone burns her albums.

In September, Allen wrote a blog on Myspace critisising bands such as Radiohead and Pink Floyd for their view that file sharing is okay.

But now it appears, in a radio interview Allen has had a change of mind and heart and says “If someone comes up with a burnt copy of my CD and offers it to you for £4, I haven’t a problem with that as long as the person buying it places some kind of value on my music.”

Tory.

The first post I’ve ever found here at the Costanza which says music sharing should be legalised.

Would that not make a HUGE amount of sense? What this group proposes is to make people pay a set fee of about $3 a month to share, download and keep as much music as they like.

In another version of the plan, the group says artists and consumers would choose whether or not they wanted their music involved in this. I guess you’d hear a lot of music from artists such as Pink Floyd and Radiohead if this was the case.

This plan is mainly aimed at independant (indie) artists who are not signed to mainstream labels who make little money anyway. This way, they would benefit.

Tory.

“Politicians and music companies need to wake up to the changing nature of music consumption and embrace the demand for new business models that offer lower prices and easier access to music.”

This article by the Daily Mail in the UK says a study published by think-tank Demos, found those who admit to file sharing spent more money on singles and albums than people who claim never to have illegally downloaded music for free.
A government in the UK plans to disconnect illegal downloaders from the internet in a ‘three strikes and you’re out’ rule.
Some artists such as James Blunt and Lily Allen support these plans but Shakira claims she feels closer to fans when they illegally obtain her music.
Of course, the survey also reveals that people would download less music illegally if it was cheaper to buy music. In fact, the legal music companies would DOUBLE their custom if they lowered their prices.

Tory.