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Lily Allen Drops Out Of Piracy Debate

Poor little Lily.  Just days after using her blog to chastise her own fans for downloading songs without paying for them,  Ms. Allen has decided that people are just too darn mean and it's time to go hide.  Earlier today via Twitter, she announced:

Lilly Allen somber

hello, there is a meeting today in london where artists are meeting to discuss Piracy. my job done.

i wont be attending the meeting because it's going to be a press frenzy and i don't want to detract from the issues

i'm proud of the fact that that i've been involved with this debate but i'm passing the baton on to other artists.

and i've shut down the blog, the abuse was getting too much.

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17 Comments

  1. A disappointing decision. I thought the forum was going well for both sides of the argument, all things considered, but I can see where she would decide she wasn’t up for the personal abuse.
    This is a good example, though, of the clash between the corporate view of what the Net should be — communication where I speak and the masses listen — and what the Net is, where the masses speak.

  2. To me it really shows the lack of understanding about what she used her blog and twitter for. Instead of using it for a platform for her to actually listen, she used it for another place for her to talk down to her fans. Her career was predicated on the myspace scam to begin with so I am not surprised. Did she really believe that her fans would stop file sharing just because she asked them to? Not just a coward but an idiot as well. Your fans are everything and I guess she has a few less today. Poor Lily.

  3. I totally agree with Jeff, Brian, and Wallow-T! You are supposed to stand up for what you believe in no matter what. Not to mention her method of thinking to come up with this lame excuse even makes since, not that it has throughout this entire debate. When the going gets tough the tough….passes the baton?!! Your lack of commitment to your “cause” makes the people your trying to convince take you less seriously then they did in the first place.

  4. I am loving the image of artists having a secret meeting to discuss piracy. That’s just too perfect.
    …I’m also glad I’m not there because it must be a really agonizingly dull conversation.

  5. Oh dear, nuclear bomb time. Techdirt has the complete story. Until perhaps yesterday (?), an old blog entry from Ms. Allen was distributing mixtape-length MP3 files including a wide variety of popular artists. (There is a tracklist for the second mixtape.) These were put together much earlier in her career, and stuck up on her blog where they sat without a whole lot of attention until…
    The blog from which these files were distributed carries a copyright notice for EMI Music. It does not appear that the artists distributed in the mixtape files were all EMI artists, though.

  6. All of this conversation seems a bit backwards to me. I always thought the point of all of this was to get the musicians paid at the end of the day, is that not right? Because if that’s not the answer, then why are we arguing about any of this?
    You can say Lily Allen is a spoiled brat since she is very successful, but I don’t think that lessens her opinion in any way. She earns a living wholly from music, how many of us can really say that?
    Say what you will, at the end of the day, it’s called piracy because it is illegal. If we don’t like the laws, let’s change them (like many would say about marijuana laws in the US), but to say just because something’s available on the internet it should be free and it’s the creator’s problem on how to monetize it, is shortsighted.
    FWIW, i don’t think there is one right answer to this problem, but by not focusing on the issue and simply calling people out, it’s not being productive in solving this issue.

  7. “All of this conversation seems a bit backwards to me. I always thought the point of all of this was to get the musicians paid at the end of the day, is that not right?”
    It is. But bloggers and pundits (apparently Hypebot included) arguing for the support of piracy are not artists. They don’t know and will never understand what it means to spend many months of your life creating and then have to give it away or sell t-shirts to make a living.

  8. I agree that the artist needs to get paid. Even as early as 1998 I ran into fans at my shows that told me they had downloaded my entire 2nd record. How could I take issue with them about this as they were standing there in my band t-shirt having me sign their ticket stubs to my show? I see gray area here because when someone copies a file, they aren’t actually limiting another’s opportunity to hear it. This topic is far too complicated to break down in a comment box. I think what all artists, labels, managers etc. need to come to terms with is that the mp3 genie will never be put back in the bottle. The only thing I am certain of is that technology will always be steps ahead of this industry and the music fan will always be at least one step ahead. I completely understand what RD and JP are saying but artist and bands need to realize that suing fans or cutting off a fan’s access to the internet will certainly not solve anything. Do I wish everyone would pay for music? Yes. Do I believe that we will ever live in a pre-Napster world? No. This debate will live for a very very long time.

  9. I’m with you Justin….What the fuck are they gonna do, look at each other and say: “You mean your music is mass produced, leaked, owned, priced, tracked and accounted for by a teetering multinational media conglomerate too? OK, well since we have no say in this debate and are incapable of affecting any real change in the unsustainable cannibalism that is our industry let’s go home and watch X Factor.”
    The only honorable stand they could possibly take would be to sign a statement of appreciation for all the people who, having spent their hard earned money on music and made it possible for them to do this for a living, are now being targeted with tax proposals, lawsuits, threats to their civil liberties and rants from Varuca Salt brats.
    brendan b brown
    wheatus.com

  10. Good comments everyone. I don’t know if it’s as much about advocating piracy as it is accepting the fact that technology has made your product much easier to attain. Because it is so easy, people are more likely to use it and keep using it no matter how much you don’t like it. People are not going to stop using technology because you don’t have a policing system or business model in place to capitalize on the opportunity yet. It’s funny in a way because it’s almost like Lily saying artists should not have to adapt to the consumer, consumers should adapt to the artists. As an artist Lily is trying to reach her fanbase the fanbase is not trying to reach her. So it would seem SHE would have to adapt her method of connection because technology is not going away. But what really rang true is what Wheatus said farther up, “You mean your music is mass produced, leaked, owned, priced, tracked and accounted for by a teetering multinational media conglomerate too? OK, well since we have no say in this debate and are incapable of affecting any real change…”

  11. funny, she allegedly sent this note to Bob Lefsetz yesterday (he sent this to his email list today):
    “From: Lily Allen
    Subject: Mp3’s
    Date: September 24, 2009 1:35:56 AM PDT
    To: Bob Lefsetz
    I think your piece today is a little unfair. I’ve never said that I side with the majors. And as you state, the website lilyallenmusic.co.uk is an EMI owned website, which I don’t run. They own the copyrights of my songs, they can do what they like with them. You claim to have an in depth knowledge of the music industry, and if this is the case you’ve written a deliberately misleading article. I think that’s a little irresponsible. I’d appreciate an apology. I’m not a hypocrite music , I pay for music that I want to listen to. I don’t illegally download music and haven’t done for about 7 years. Maybe your just trying to get a reaction and for me to publicise your website. That won’t work. Besides It’s unauthorised file sharing that I have a problem with, not record companies giving away music as a promotional tool. you’re piece yesterday was mildly interesting, todays is insulting and I’ll be consulting my lawyers on the matter.”

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