What can we learn from Lily Allen?

When Lily Allen wrote: “I think music piracy is having a dangerous effect on British music” she probably didn’t expect the storm of criticism that followed. This even culminated in a song adressed to her that I posted here. The artist world is extremely divided over the issue with some siding with Allen while others like 50 Cent and Tom Delonge believe piracy is inevitable and helps to promote the music and revenue opportunities elsewhere.

In her Blog Allen wrot: “some rich and successful artists such as Nick Mason, of Pink Floyd, and Ed O’Brien, of Radiohead, don’t think so. Last week, they told The Times that file sharing is fine. It probably is for them. They do sell-out arena tours and have the biggest Ferrari collections in the world. For new talent, though, file sharing is a disaster – it makes it harder and harder for new acts to emerge. “via Lily Allen: my message for big stars who back piracy… | Lily Allen – Times Online

These comments have made her notorious among copyrightfighers, who commented: “Allen’s website is chock-a-block with infringing scans of newspaper articles, infringing mix-tapes (even the rant she posted was lifted from Techdirt). Her all-caps responses (“I THINK ITS QUITE OVIOUS THAT I WASNT TRYING TO PASS OF THOSE WORDS AS MY OWN , HERE IS A LINK TO THE WEBSIITE I ACQUIRED THE PIECE FROM.”) are the kind of nutty, defensive shouty words that chum the water online.” via Lily Allen’s copyright problem – Boing Boing

The artist Joss Stone  said: “She needs to sell records because she’s not a singer, and that’s not an offense to her because I think that she knows that too.” She added: “I think she’s a performer and she’s more of a personality than she is a singer. But I think when musicians are really making real music people come to the show and that’s what we make our money from, from playing live. And I think it’s probably harder for an artist like Lily and any other pop acts. via Joss Stone: Lily Allen can’t sing (From Wirral Globe)

Does Lily Allen have a point? or are you with the other artists? And how does this relate to visual media that is ever more available for free online?

 Picture: Stock Exchange | Aim | Rainer Topf