File-Sharing Heroine Lilly Allen is a Copyright Hypocrite
Written by enigmax on September 21, 2009The war against file-sharing has found a new figure-head. After she wrote an interesting post on MySpace, singer Lilly Allen’s words have been relayed around the world – she has even started a new blog where many artists are supporting her. But what if the new face of anti-piracy was just as bad as those she criticizes?
On Lilly Allen’s new blog “It’s Not Alright” musicians such as Gary Barlow from Take That, the one with the silly hat from N-Dubz and ex-Robbie Williams songwriter Guy Chambers are queuing up to help in her campaign against illicit file-sharing.
The debut post on the blog includes a criticism of 50 Cent, who just a couple of weeks ago had the temerity to suggest that piracy and file-sharing are all part of marketing music.
However, aside from the critique of Fiddy, the rest of the blog post – put there by Lilly herself – is someone else’s work. Arrr mateys, Long John Allen lifted the entire post from another site – Techdirt.com – effectively pirating the work of the one and only Mike Masnick.
“I think it’s wonderful that Lilly Allen found so much value in our Techdirt post that she decided to copy — or should I say ‘pirate’? — the entire post,” Mike told TorrentFreak on hearing the shocking news.
“The fact that she is trying to claim that such copying is bad, while doing it herself suggests something of a double standard, unfortunately. Also, for someone so concerned about the impact of ‘piracy’ I’m quite surprised that she neither credited nor linked to our post. Apparently, what she says and how she acts are somewhat different. Still, Lilly, glad we could help you make a point… even if it wasn’t the one you thought you were making,” Mike added.
Mike holds no grudges of course, neither is he pressing for Lilly to be disconnected from the Internet. He says he is more than happy for Lilly to carry on using his work, but wonders if he can now post Lilly’s music on his site without giving her any credit.
Lilly, here is our take on the whole situation. In isolation we don’t think your copyright infringement is a big deal at all and neither does Mike, but in the arena of this debate it’s still quite important. Infringing copyright these days is so easy to do, most people manage it every day in one way or another, and you are clearly no different. You probably didn’t mean any harm or even given it a second thought, but it takes only a few clicks to be labeled a pirate these days I’m afraid.
The next thing you know you’ve got God-knows-who accusing you in public of being an evil copyright infringer and telling you the sky’s falling in. Oh, you’re on your first strike now by the way. A couple more and it’ll be off to Ofcom for disconnection for you young lady. Or rather, no, you won’t, since it’s only music rightholders who will be ‘protected’ under this legislation you want so badly.
But measured by your colleague James Blunt’s standards, just because file-sharing copy/pasting is “easy to do, and has become accepted by many,” that doesn’t make it OK to rip off someone else’s work. Many thousands of people will read and enjoy Mike’s work on your blog and he won’t get paid a penny. He’s probably sleeping in cardboard box right now.
But let’s not get things out of proportion. Pop over for a chat Lilly, and we’ll try to broker a private music-for-article copyright trade-off with Mike – before he decides to buy Peter Mandelson lunch instead.
Previously: Pirate Bay Appeal Judge Faces Ban, Works For Spotify
Next: Pirate Bay Suitor Wants BPI Director On Its Board
163 Responses
lol. a copy cat…err copyright thief. and, not only that, a plagarist.
Oh those pro-copyright idiots… when will they learn
Almost all anti-piracy groups are pirates themselve. These include: Sony, the RIAA, the MPAA, the IFPI, and many others.
Now when I think about it, I’ve actually coped thousands of articles without even thinking about the possibility of copyright violation. As it is socially acceptable no one cares.
Why isn’t it the same with media?
It appears she is simply commenting on his blog post, however failed to cite a source.
I’ll admit that I am not very good at picking up on internet sarcasm, so if that is all this is, then disregard my comment. :)
silly lilly
@4 no you’re not, fuckin’ idiot
@5 it is
I’d say boycott the artists until they all go broke. Will it be the end of music? Hell no! Maybe the so-called “superstars” will be gone but all the unknown independent artists who make music for the love of music (and not for the money) will have a platform to distribute themself. And they may even make a living…
Owned!
Lily Allen, welcome to teh internets, where any lie or hypocrisy will be picked apart by the hive mind of netizens in seconds.
one simple pic to finish the article
http://shadowplastic.com/word/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/lily-allen-5.jpg
enjoy
ahh the irony.
J.
another simple pic:
http://tinyurl.com/o5hlue
I’d say boycott the artists until they all go broke. Will it be the end of music? Hell no! Maybe the so-called “superstars” will be gone but all the unknown independent artists who make music for the love of music (and not for the money) will have a platform to distribute themself. And they may even make a living…
We already have a lot of idiots in the pirate community… and i would like to be one of the first to invite the stupid fat cun…. umm, silly Lilly into the pirate fold as well, whats one more after all? At least we have mucccch fewer morons compared to the anti-piracy crowd where being a total moron with 2bit knowledge qualifies you to be an “investigator”.
hahahahaha, classic!!
i hope she responds!!
Looks to me like she is just commenting on it.
Obviously forgot to source the article though. Bad bad bad!
Good statement of 50: “If the records label could stop thepiracy they would.”
I didn’t like him for a few years, but now I like him a bit more.^^
All I have to say is ePiC FaIL.
Did anyone really think she had the interlect to write a blog post herself?
It doesn’t matter that much really – the blogs going to be annoying quite a few of us so sooner or later we’ll remove it.
[irony]“interlect”[/irony]
I doubt she will read this so why didnt TF try to contact her to respond on this ?
Would have been fun reading how ‘her manager’ (every poor cardbox owner has one) would try to talk his/her way out of it.
This only profe that not only Blodies can be stupid. :-)
And dammn this pictures of her are gross’, 100% gross.
Did the piratebay ever credit the content owners?
You should support her for copying your work.
Without the content owners Torrentfreak would be a meaningless blog.
I expect big thank you notes for RIAA and MPAA on each and every torrent site.
Whats funny is on her blog she like cites all our arguments and kinda glosses them over and ends with the statement that basically just says people are loosing jobs so that’s bad..
LOL.
If your only argument is that people will loose jobs.. you already lost. What about when environmentalist get there way.. loggers will be out of a job! Oh but who cares about them.. theirs a million examples of the point I am trying to make..
NATURAL BUSINESS EVOLUTION. Sh!t happens, deal with it.. nobody cares to hear your pathetic whining.
All of her arguments are completely ignorant.. especially the part about how spying on ‘certain’ people doesn’t infringe civil liberties..
She has NO F*CKING CLUE what deep packet inspection is even involved for 1 connection.
Lilly Allen has taken her well earned place in yet another group of selfish morons speaking out on subjects they have zero clue about.
Its pretty obvious with her recent pirating of another article..
Please be quiet Lilly.. your embarrassing yourself worst then that picture with your beaver hanging out.. but we all accept that since we figured you as dumb as Brittany spears and the rest of em like you.
Priceless , torrent freak rules ;>
I think it’s funny how she posted parts of newspapers there…
Typical for the MAFIAA.
Well done Enigmax (and to all those people working behind the scenes to keep things spinning here). This why I <3 TF. Well ,for most of the time. *hint* Yet another article on TPB *hint*
In other news : File-Sharing heroine Lilly Allen is a slut. Period.
@18
Of course, the manager-thingy is in the “10 Essential Tips for Making a Living with Your Music”.
http://tinyurl.com/ml5h9l
Somebody should tell the “artists” that the numbers 4,6,7,8,9 & 10 are completely obsolete.
Too bad, most of today’s “artists” have no clue about numbers 1 – 3.
bahahaha
Silly lilly* politics aren’t for you, please go back to giving blow jobs k?
*p.s OMFG i just copy/pasted from #6!!! :P
Google makes copies of and caches every single copyrighted page on the internet and no-one complains about that.
shoosh us pirates need google !! err what he went to say is they do it “legaly” ;)
“On Lilly Allen’s new blog “It’s Not Alright” musicians such as Gary Barlow from Take That, the one with the silly hat from N-Dubz and ex-Robbie Williams songwriter Guy Chambers are queuing up to help in her campaign against illicit file-sharing.”
I’ve never heard of any of these people and I listen to all kinds of music every day..
id rather if you responded in a less aggressive manner.
People constantly bring up fair use as a justification for piracy, but ironically, this is the one thing that could be classified as fair use.
It’s because their music never appeared on P2P networks, or was full of infested DRM. If no one knows about you, good luck trying to make a profit.
Im guessing thats why there crying together.. nobody knows who they are so they arent making jack..
LOL.
Mabye they should spend more time making better music rather than crying about piracy that doesnt exist for them since there nobodys..
makes sense to me…
Is anybody else hoping that she will respond to this article in her blog and make a complete ass of herself?
This is gold.
@1 you are completely right, this is far from copyright but pure 100% plagiarism. This Mike guy should do something about it not for any more or publicity but to knock her down a peg or two so all the people who read her blogs can see she was busted for the very thing she is trying to stop, Those are the actions needed. Rather than say oh its ok go for it use my work without permission they need to fight fire with fire. See how she likes it when she gets a letter telling her to remove it.
@25
The list is incomplete….
11. Have at least one kind of self destructive addiction (good that heroine isn’t as “illegal” as sharing , one might end up in court)
12. Show off how poor you are on some music channel.
13. Pirate some other people writings… (and probably music too, who knows)
14. Try to find some annoying habit / wishes someone needs to fulfill before you even think of doing a performance.
15…..
well she was obviously commenting on the article and quoting it. dunno if it was there from the start but there even is a source cited in her blog.
that goes to all the mindless idiots that go ‘hurr dur OWned!!’ and post photoshops and didn’t even go and read the original entry.
Heroine ?
Well, you know, heroine is a bitch.
And not of the nice kind …
Lily’s just an attention seeking idiot, that’s all this is.
You should update the article with more background info on how she got started in the first place: Illicit file-sharing, and free streaming mp3-files on MySpace!
She owes everything to the online communities freely exchanging music, hell, she even released 2 mixtapes early on, in which she illegally samples a whole bunch of copyright protected works.
Lilly Allen’s career was launched on the back of free online music, and now she puts out this pot of piss for us?
Go fuck yourself, Lilly Allen.
-A former fan.
It’s actually spelt Lily, but yeah she is a bit rubbish!
Its awesome how you slipped in the lord mandelson joke lol
LOL.
It’s “Lily” BTW, not “Lilly”.
Paul – There is no source cited that I can see, care to point it out? You do realise that the people commenting on the blog are citing Techdirt, not Lily?
While I agree that she probably should have properly credited and linked to the original techdirt post, I don’t think that this is quite the snafu others seem to think it is.
Masnick has repeatedly stated on his blog that he has “no problem with people taking our content and reposting it … Some of them give us credit. Some of them don’t. We don’t go after any of them. … We’re perfectly fine with people taking and repurposing our content. We hope they give us attribution, but we don’t worry too much if they don’t (actually, it would be even cooler if sites added more value to our content). There’s really no reason to spend much time thinking about it. Yet, we still get people emailing us all the time to ask for “permission” to reuse our content — and of course, we always “grant” the permission, even though they don’t need it at all.” See “Why Is It So Difficult To Opt-Out Of Copyright?”, http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090116/0348223430.shtml
So he basically stated quite clearly that no one is required to obtain permission before re-posting or re-purposing his content, and that he doesn’t care whether proper attribution is given. In the legal world, this pretty much amounts to an unlimited, non-exclusive, royalty-free license for anyone to do what they want with the content on TechDirt.
In light of this, I’d say that TorrentFreak and TechDirt alleging that this reposting is “piracy” is frankly more hypocritical…
Sue her. Take her to court, and make an example of her and the do gooding she is trying to do, while copying others work.
If mike had posted song lyrics he would be in court now.
Dont think twice, becasue they wont, but unlike Lily they will go after those without money or any hope of defence.
@38
the pic in post#10 is not photoshopped, it was taken at the Bestival 2009 in Robin Hill (Newport) and the copyright holder is Getty Images (thanks Getty ;-))
I just hope ppl didn’t have to pay entrance fee for that freak show…
so sad, i really like lily allen’s music :C
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o141/rabbitkillrun/1813.jpg
if it wasnt for file sharing she would not been doing concerts outside europe and the us.
She’s such a ‘tard.
I found this delicious article by googling “Lily Allen income”
http://news.qthemusic.com/2009/01/lily_tells_q_radio_of_anger_at.html
Here’s a quote :
She told QPM presenter Samanthi: “ There’s no point in going into music if you don’t write your own stuff because you’re not going to sustain any kind of income and unless you really want to tour because that’s the only way you’re going to get any money.”
Maybe I’m stupid, but isn’t she basically confirming what 50 cents said? If she’s not making any money off sales anyway, the only impact piracy is going to have on her is drawing more people to her shows where, according to herself, the real money is. Stupid is as stupid does.
You can bitch and moan all you want, can’t stop what you can’t find.
it’s always the no-names that bitch, don’t see linkin’ park, or any other big name complaining.
Artists don’t make squat off record sales anyways, only the studios. All artists know they make big money off tours only, look at michael jackson. If he did the tour in england next year he would have netted over 50 million from the those tours alone. Around 1 million a night.
I wouldn’t even download her crap music for free so…
& she has fat knees
Who the hell is Lily Allen? Maybe she should allow her music to be shared since most people probably have no idea who she is….
As far as the fat knees go…
Yes. Fat knees.
Cottage cheese buttocks and thighs? EWWWWWW!!! Clearly she has cottage cheese for brains as well. Regardless, I wouldn’t download her music even if you paid me to.
Lilly Allen = Corporate Soul Dead Whore
Thanks Lilly, for showing us & thanks TF for the story…
Fantastic article, made me laugh.
Just goes to show that no one should throw rocks in the age of the internets.
Six months ago she said she’s broke and blamed it on the credit crunch:
http://tinyurl.com/n944l2
Now it’s the bad bad bad pirates…
http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=494560997&blogId=510867699
Man, here comes another load of brainwashing, espically from someone like Lilly who loves to put her music about on the internet as a free marketing tool but is still bitching she needs money to produce 10 or so tracks each year that all sound the same…
These artists should be worried about losing copyright, there 5 minutes of fame is nearly up and what will they have to do afterwards, they can’t surely get a proper job and make money… can they?
LOL, is anyone really surprised by this? I mean really?
RT
http://www.real-privacy.net.tc
I’m a musician. I don’t really care if I make money off music, either, because I just love making it.
Here’s my perspective:
I really don’t care if you pirate any music I make. If you wanna buy it, that’s awesome. If you wanna pirate it, I will literally say “Go for it, bro”. I really think that any musician that’s so outspoken against piracy isn’t really a musician at all – more of a musical technician whose in it for money.
Fuck Lilly Allen.
…Again
Who the hell are these people?
death to the industry
thanks to TF and ZP and P2P we all know who this puss is :S
silly lilly
why that little bitch, what a jerk, she was prolly payed of by mitch bainwhore the overblown clown
Supporting:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTXQFEdXTiQ
Thanks
Many laughs were had.
lol brilliant article, lilly, hang your head in shame, firstly your not that good, secondly, your a dirty thieving pirate and hipocrite, nice….
I think her arguments for hurting the emerging artists are complete and utter bullshit.. At least to the point of getting those artist heard & promoted.. Has she never heard of throwing someone a bone?
How about Lilly actually makes a fucking tour with some unknown band? That would be great for them & expose them to many fans that would buy there music once a record label signed them.
Furthermore, every artist out there complaining about files haring can actually do the same exact thing. Instead of throwing out the music they get from indie artist why not listen to it? Why not take them on tour?
I think her arguments for hurting the emerging artists are complete and utter bullshit.. At least to the point of getting those artist heard & promoted.. Has she never heard of throwing someone a bone?
How about Lilly actually makes a fucking tour with some unknown band? That would be great for them & expose them to many fans that would buy there music once a record label signed them.
Furthermore, every artist out there complaining about files haring can actually do the same exact thing. Instead of throwing out the music they get from indie artist why not listen to it? Why not take them on tour?
PS she should pay that guy for using his work in a tune of a few hundred thousand dollars. After all she is getting free promotion from all of this BS. I didn’t even the original post, I viewed hers & read more of her blog.
Lol, this is great. It doesn’t suggest piracy, it is piracy as plagiarism.
Bill Hicks pigeonholed these artists when he ranted about government approved rock and roll back in the early 90s. The music industry hasn’t changed much since then hu.
Also: Hahahaha, Take That, ha! What fail.
She got pwnzored!
Seems like anything you do is contradictory this days.
I’ve never heard of Lilly Allen. Not my kind of music anyway. I prefer heavy metal mostly.
Some bands I like:
AC/DC
Metallica
Megadeth
Godsmack
Some Korn songs
Iron Maiden
Diamond Head
Linkin Park
Rob Zombie
Lilly is just another hypocritical Bitch acting like she is on the rag 24/7.
I got you guys linked on an Australian news site, check it out.
http://blogs.news.com.au/techblog/index.php/news/comments/lily_allen_shares_words_for_anti_sharing_blog_post/
Keep up the great work guys and ‘keep the bastards honest’
I am egarly awaiting 50 Cent’s response.
Sometimes these ‘tards get me so mad I want to punchh a f ukkin baby.
can’t wait tell are generation takes over and everything changes for the best.. and we can freely distribute content because it grows our technology. The new copyright license will be creative commons not the original messed up license that sues music lovers for just sharing?
Not like people read comments, but I’ve set up a blog to refute Lily’s various claims:
http://lilyalleniswrong.blogspot.com/
:P GL HF
Its good to know that there are still sane artists out there. Like 50 Cent.
What a stupid bitch!
Not only for plagiarizing (Pirating) someone else’s work while complaining about copyright violation (Piracy), but by pissing off her customers.
I WAS going to buy her album in the next few days. That would have been the first music I would have purchased in a decade. I do not however buy any music from corporate whores, so her original sounding music is off my shopping list permanently.
i propose boycotting her..
my personal irony is that of about 99 percent of the artists who complain about piracy i have absolutely no desire to listen to them anyway
Who is she anyway
back to your mummy silly
http://www.brooklynvegan.com/archives/2009/02/lily_allen_matt.html
changed her tune since this gig
Sigh… Why is it that only the manufactured hack artists are the only people complaining about piracy?
Who in blue hell download their music?
Cmon people be smart. Don’t waste your bandwidth on junk!
It’s only fair that she get three strikes as well…. two left then?
Six months ago she said she’s broke and blamed it on the credit crunch.
Now it’s the bad bad bad pirates.
Of course it’s NOT the £100k ($170k) spending on clothes…
I got to wonder if her music/lyrics are copied from someone else’s repertoire? Because integrity she ain’t got, clearly.
I wouldn’t ban her off the internetz… she does more damage than good to the lobbby; lol
17 USC §1202
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/usc_sec_17_00001202—-000-.html
(b) Removal or Alteration of Copyright Management Information.— No person shall, without the authority of the copyright owner or the law
(c) Definition.— As used in this section, the term “copyright management information” means…
(2) The name of, and other identifying information about, the author of a work.
(7) Identifying numbers or symbols referring to such information or links to such information.
..
Lil’s problem is that she’s got a big advance from a RECORD company and she’s trying to pay it back by selling CDs.
She’s not a performer. If she WAS, she’d get out there and play LIVE, like a REAL MUSICIAN. But that’s RIGHT, she TRIED to tour America and NO ONE BOUGHT TICKETS.
She doesn’t want to bust her hump spreading her music the old fashioned way, she wants money to fall into her cocaine-powdered LAP.
No one is buying her records, she doesn’t understand becasue her EGO won’t allow her to realize PEOPLE DON’T WANT her “music”.
I predict nude pictures in a magazine. WAIT..she JUST did THAT.
What a SUPRISE.
..
Never heard of her; don’t care.
Can’t wait for the anti-piracy video with all these artist pouring their lack of souls in a dead movement. “We are the woorld, we are the anti-pirates”.
Lily Allen, FUCK YOU VERY VERY MUCH
*sigh* and i really liked her tunes.
-1 fan
silly ol *itch :)
oopps i accidently flagged her blog for copyright infringement…
Lily Allen is an idiot. Typical bleach-blonde with no brains. I really thought she was American. ;)
I’d still tap her tho :$
why someone would want to copy/pirate/listen to her crappy music
@54
But how about seeding? – Thats what I’m going to be doing, for a long while yet =]
Though her music sucks so bad I’ll be amazed if anyone acctually downloads it to listen too…
Lily jokingly suggested people must have been doing some illegal downloading, but she quickly followed that with a more serious “I don’t care, I don’t make any money off recordings”.
Feb 09′
don’t you realise people write the shit you say down Lily?
Let me please summarize the community’s opinion in one phrase:
Open your mouth, Lilly, I have something that fits right in.
;-)
She will be sorry to have touched this hornet’s nest LoL
why someone would want to copy/pirate/listen to her crappy music..
@90, Kirth:
So true … that’s how the big five record companies keep pushing their “stars”
every month or so another hot blond with a mediocre voice but a catchy tune hits up some top40 charts
But guess what, in times of the internet, that concept does not work anymore as a cash cow like it used to be…
Brains!
No really, I mean, where are they?
They must be so somewhere,
give some to the ones in need!
Would this be the same Lily Allen whose first album, “Alright Still” was recently revealed to be almost completely made up from samples of other peoples’ music (as can be found here: http://www.musiclikedirt.com/2006/09/27/lily-allen-alright-steal )?
She thinks sharing her music (and subsequently giving her free marketing/protomotion) is hurting her?
Let’s just share pictures of her cellulite-ridden elephant thighs until it turns enough people off that she has no audience left…
THAT type of sharing would stand a greater chance of causing ACTUAL damages. ;)
One of the most amusing outcomes in all this is that people are commenting and calling Lily Allen stupid as well as more offensive terms. But it seems none of those people can actually spell, most noticeable when the article itself consistently mis-spells Ms.Allens name.
People in glass houses…
bring back tapes and recording shit from the radio!
x
You’d think that you’d check to see that her name is spelled “Lily” not “Lilly”.
lmao @119 & @121.
looks like lily allen’s pr are here for some damage control :p
do she really truthfully feel that all us file sharers are CRIMINALS!
yup i smoke weed so technically that makes me a criminal (even tho i could do worse)
jus think of this:
1)
you goto a night club listen to a DJ play HIS COLLECTION of tracks (be it mp3/vinyl/etc)
1 guy shares/plays his music collection to others
(strangers or not)
2)
1 guy stands in a busy shopping center with guitar playing other peoples music & we walk by and flick him a quid
1 guy shares/plays his music collection to others
(strangers or not)
3)
you go visit ya friend & there are others there who you dont know he plays some tracks on his ipod dock you all sit down drink have fun & LISTEN
1 guy shares/plays his music collection to others
(strangers or not)
4)
you sit in front of ya pc and fire up utorrent browse on google for a torrent ya like the sound of & download
1 guy shares/plays his music collection to others
(strangers or not)
5)
bunch of cavemen & cave girls sit about bangin stones & hide drums in different patterns, some dance some jus sit and bob heads/tap feet
now there is only 1 thing in these 5 cases that differs from each other which is the technology used essentialy it is the same situation repeated again & again but with different tools
so if you sit and play music with others YOU are sharing which come 2012 will mean YOU TOO are a CRIMINAL
WHEN WILL PEOPLE THINK OUT SIDE THE BOX
Simple as this, only hack “musicians” and “artists” are against this.
People who make stuff WORTH paying for are doing just fine, people that are manufactured crap, or merely “sample” everyone’s manufactured crap aren’t doing well at all.
And if I believed for a second any of the money from the lawsuits go to the artists, I might care.
IT’s all a scam, because it’s a dying business model, and the only people “in the biz” that are complaining are people that, well, to put it bluntly, SUCK.
James Blunt? = SUCK
Lilly Allen? NEver heard of her but I bet she sucks
And lets not forget the crowd of “artists” that come out against piracy as a means of self promotion.
Half the albums, actually, ALL of the albums I’ve purchased on archaic Compact Disk (and I say that with a look and tone of disgust) I purchased because I downloaded them for free, enjoyed them, and wanted to own them.
Most of us are like that, sure, we pirate music, movies and tv, so we are better informed and able to make better decisions on what to by.
Look at the new Phish album, they are streaming it AND the bonus tracks on myspace for free. They are also selling out of the album.
“Consider a hypothetical case of a cleaner employed by me. Firstly, should I ask my employer to pay for the cleaner? Obviously not, I have to pay out of my own pocket, because they are performing a service for me, not for my employer, even if my clean house makes me more productive. Ergo, you should pay for your own artwork, ’street team’ and studio time, because they are services that benefit you.”
I think this is near the mark – ‘Artists’ such as Lily (and I use the ‘artist’ term loosely here) are merely employees of the record companies – Sure it’s not a 9-to-5 or anything but they are simpkly contracted employees just like the ‘little guys’
Maybe the ‘artists’ should stop being so precious and consider reducing their fees (which is effectively what they are paid – albeit on a royalty basis) to help spread the income more fairly throughout what seems from the outside a corrupt and sychophantic industry
Copying things is what advances humanity. Copy someone else’s idea and make it better. These copyright morons are all about greed and control. Screw them and their regressive mentality.
I seem to remember she launched her career and got her record deal through distributing music and building a fan base FOR FREE ON MY SPACE.
What an idiot,…she wouldnt even be ina postion to make this kind of fuss if there hadnt been the means to distribute free music.
Lilly Alen? Is that the one with the cellulite arse and the fat knees?
@48 i was referring to the her post at http://idontwanttochangetheworld.blogspot.com/2009/09/50-cent.html
where it says “from the blabla department” on top of the post. clearly it’s not a proper link but for somebody who doesn’t know much about the internet this could easily be mistaken for the source.
i know i’ll be downloadin torrents 4lyfe. so fuck them.
@124. Yep Lilly Allen sucks. All her songs sound the same. I’m amazed that peeps even want to pirate her songs. It’s that bad. She is known for her big gob and has an opinion about everything. A talentless gobby stupid tart.
RONALDO
She’s not a hypocrite, she’s just an idiot. Plan and simple.
oh you’re so pathetic for writing this article, stop trying to find a story, you’re just doing the whole music industry a bad turn, get on board and support their efforts instead
I will not take this into consideration because, to write about someone, at least you have to know how to write the person’s name. And, apparently, most of the idiots who commented don’t know either.
Lily with just one “L”. How hard is that?!
@133
Icouldn’t agree more. What is this, soaps central?
Didn’t even know who Lilly Allen was but I think I’m going to “acquire” a couple of albums tonight to find out.
Lily Allen uploaded her entire new album to her myspace and I ripped that shit for free. Thanks Lallen!
I’m fat, full of fail and my “music” sucks yak balls. :\
Hurrrr durrr
a downlöd is alwais a lawst sail
defendurr of the little fails my blawg my blawg it shows it
hurr durrr
amirite?
im so awesums
lookitme i has crap fugly body but i has totally awesums blawg
hurrr r hurrr hurrr durr
im such a heroine, i take it every day
stick it in mah pooper, every download is a missed pooperscooper
hurrr durrr
yea, that’s how we see ya alrite.
Stupid Bitch.
To those two-footed dictionaries out there:
I’ll check my spelling when it comes to creatures such as nematodes, plankton and mildew, but Lilly (double-L) Allen isn’t worth the bother.
We will fuck copyright anyway.
Think about the actors lily, how selfish of you for taking money out of there pockets.
[IMG]http://i37.tinypic.com/2zj9ezs.jpg[/IMG]
She’s horrible that Lilly Anell.
A flash in the pan if ever I saw one.
Peace.
It does seems like the author of this article is undereducated and under exposed. Posting articles from another site without permission is certainly not piracy. Rather it is more of plagiarism. The severity of the violation is further reduced by the fact that the original article is for public viewing. Even in the midst of piracy news, the author still is unable to discern between piracy and what not.
you argue not spending money on CDs/DVDs/Vinyls/Mp3 would support independent artists. Well, i wonder how these independent artists would earn $$ other than being exploited in gigs. Or how to identity the scale of the fan base, since nothing is sold. Are the free downloads from free loaders or real fans who would pay for concerts?
some even say these superstars are bogging the music industry, shadowing other more talented independent musician, thus naming acts which people never heard of before. Guess what, the reasons so many independents do not make it is because they are crap. It’s just that they refuse to acknowledge it, and the music fans do not wish to expand their musical horizons. Can independents make it big? Of course they can. Take for example, Depeche Mute under the Mute independent music label.
and as a fan of the obscure independent scene who wishes to see such scenes shine in the spotlight, having people pirate music from these artist would just be the opposite thing to do. wouldn’t you be asking other people to buy first individual tracks (3 or four which best identifies them), and if they like it, to complete their album collection? Once album sales reaches critical mass in foreign/neighboring countries = possibility of live concerts there. Would piracy help bring these artists over?
@ t0m5k1
street performers..well..perform their own pieces, and their covers falls under fair usage (cause they earn very little from it) , plus it is their own interpretation of the song ( intonation, rhythm… and such)
DJs uses samples to create original pieces. Successful Djs with integrity obtain licenses for a small sum, and might even get released on a special remix edition if they are good.
indiscriminate mass propagation of licensed music for the sole purpose of evading monetary compensation is just plain unethical and reprehensible since quality of paid and said distributed music is identical. would you support unchecked mass propagation of Lord of the Rings novels? or mass propagation of your favorite band when it is absolutely reasonable to believe that 90% of downloaders (of HQ music) won’t even consider appreciating the music with monetary support,and even worse if you’re being outside of the native country, would eliminate the chance of even a signing session.
before the internet, we paid for good music, and didn’t for bad music didn’t we? Beatles, Bowie, Elvis, Idol, Smiths, Cure, Jackson. But we most certainly didn’t keep the bad albums and keep listening to them for free did we? Because that would actually mean taking an vinyl from the store without paying.
The vinyl store had test booths, online stores have low quality samples, there are alot of radio stations playing fringe genres, there are REAL professional reviews for free online…there is no reason why a music loving pirate would want to pirate a “bad” album.
As for pirating as an protest against big music labels, you are doing more harm against the music industry than not, because the market not totally about big labels at all. Go search the albums you liked and see if it is…and when downloading pirated music, i am CERTAIN you are not checking the label it is under.
As for superstar artists being bad? Why should it be so? We had plenty of superstar artists that gets where there are because of the quality of the music. (small unheard of independents always deny this). Say AC/DC? INXS? KISS? Rolling Stones? MJ? Madonna? Depeche Mode? Abba & EarthWindnFire & BeeGees for disco? Tiesto/Van Dyke for electro? The Cure for Goth?
Is jonas bothers a superstar?(their 1st album is already OLD. will anyone cover their songs?no)Is Allen or GaGa or Clarkson superstars? (look at them in 3 years)The reasoning that superstars shouldn’t exist because they kill the independent scene is stupid. The only reason superstars will do that is if the sound of the independent scene is unable to match the superstars. Listened to the current rockbands? or the so called independents you are supporting? Don’t you think they sound a little derivative of the big ones in rock? huh? will their albums be listened to in 10 years?
Hell, having superstars is good because it pushes the independent scene to innovate. and innovation is always a good thing in music. had the musicians innovated? when the independent act is good enough to burst in to the international scene, would you, the pirate, refuse their chance????
Mp3 downloads and piracy always encourage single song listens (cause it is easy to select and make your own play lists and transfers of individuals) which translates to BAD, sloppy albums with 90% fillers. Unless you like bad albums…….
Be an ethical music lover, please! Buy music! Help the independents! Try music through legal channels. They exist! even if they are not on9, can’t you even walk to your friendly neighborhood music store for a test session? (oh wait, you killed them. there are only soulless ones left) Don’t like the big acts? Don’t download their pirated songs then, since well, you don’t like the music. Why DL and keep music you hate??It only makes things look worst for the artists and other industry players.
@#146 Read this PLEASE
If you want anyone to take you seriously, start by being concise. Being relevant won’t hurt you either.
kthxbai
@Read this PLEASE
i was being concise and relevant, with the talk about music piracy, the reasoning and the impact on the music industry.
it is of course no surprise why dedicated pirates wouldn’t want to read it for it does severely questions their “pirate logic” and extends the knock on effects of their actions which they had refused to consider.
had this being in vain? of course it is since pirates will remain pirates unless new laws are enacted in the Caucasus and Balkans. until then untold damage will be done to the independent scene.
FUCK YOU LILY ALLEN AND ALL YOU REPRESENT!
@146
At what point does Techdirt declare their piece creative commons? That any part of their news may be reused without proper consent or citation?
People like yourself make it incredibly hard for authors to post and maintain original content on the web. Being brushed under the table as “publicly available” which is absolute BS to a degree you can’t comprehend. Maybe you should study public domain vs publicly viewable. Allen made no attempt to cite a source or even use a quotation mark. Websites and blogs in professional circles depend on all the traffic they can get to maintain their sponsors. Oh no, whats that? An ecosystem for authors? how can that be!?
Get over yourself, she committed foul and her halfass apology on her blog is laughable as she at no point made an “obvious” citing of another author.
From Plagiarism.org:
Most cases of plagiarism are considered misdemeanors, punishable by fines of anywhere between $100 and $50,000 — and up to one year in jail.
Plagiarism can also be considered a felony under certain state and federal laws. For example, if a plagiarist copies and earns more than $2,500 from copyrighted material, he or she may face up to $250,000 in fines and up to ten years in jail.
But oh noes it’s Lilly Allen and she can do no foul because like its totally public and like commons and like stuff.
Go play with your barbies and listen to Miranda Cosgrove while being clueless about anything you spout off. People like yourself are endless headaches for actual authors because you always feel entitled to stomp on those you feel are lesser.
I didn’t even know who this chick was until I started reading the hubbub, and only this very moment, after reading these, had any idea what she looked like. My thanks (shudder) to “Don’t Get It” and “The Truth” for cluing me in.
BTW, is that really cottage cheese I’m seeing back there…
It’s Lily Allen – not Lilly.
My friend is in a band and did one of their first gigs last week where this group of about 20 friends all came up afterwards saying how much they enjoyed it. ONE of them bought their album and pretty much all the rest said they were going to just copy that album.
It’s no wonder a lot of potentially great bands will never make it, everyone is too busy ripping them off. If you don’t buy the album and the record company doesn’t make decent profits from an emerging artist, they wont support them in the future.
Who’s James Blunt?
Hey, I found your blog in a new directory of blogs. I dont know how your blog came up, must have been a typo, anyway cool blog, I bookmarked you. :)
..
If you want to make a “name” for your band you MUST play live shows.
THAT’S where your MONEY will come from, not from a BIG ADVANCE from the A&R guy.
It’s not 1972 anymore. The only “chart” songs that make money are Rap/Hip Hop and Urban Contemporary.
That’s just THE WAY IT IS.
..
..
All record companies do is TAKE from the “artist”.
They don’t ADD anything to the creative process. They DESTROY creativity by demanding MORE OF THE SAME.
Part of the ILLUSION of the music industry is the idea that IF ONLY a band can HIT IT BIG, they’ll beset for life.
Really EXAMINE the history of POP MUSIC: The Beatles only were together from 1961-1970. That NINE YEARS. Elvis? 1956-1961. FIVE YEARS. Led Zep? 1969-1980 ELEVEN BIG years (with a two year gap between 1978-1979). So…NINE YEARS.
Do you SEE the pattern? The Who? 1965-1978?
Rolling Stones 1964-1978? They’re LAME after 78, don’t even debate it.
..
Alan from Kick Up The Fire has taken a little bit of exception to Lily:
http://kickupthefire.wordpress.com/2009/09/23/dear-lily-allen/
her song LDB uses a riff from a old and forgotten reggae song.
2 nigga dicks up her ass and she’ll be begging for me to pirate her music damn white hoe.
One word KARMA The music industry took the piss for years and now it’s reaping what it sowed.
Her blog is now blank. Like her mind.
And what about the artists who find themselves in a position where, due to a smaller recording deal, the only release is digital? Someone may download the track to ‘try it out’…are they really going to go and buy it? They have a copy of the sound recording – it’s not like they are going to go and buy exactly the same thing again. And to that end where does it stop? If there is not punishment for illegally ‘trying out’ a song, what’s to stop someone from downloading the album and being on their merry way?
Copyright exists to compensate individuals who would otherwise be exploited in exactly the same way that we are finding now. The convenience of broadband speeds, HSPDA devices and P2P connectivity means that now more than ever the infrastructure that enables artists, writers and all of those in the creative industries to be able to contribute to the entertainment establishments should be protected. Radiohead would not be where they are now if they weren’t a full-time band. Michael Crichton would not have written Jurassic Park in the same timescale if he had been working part-time in Wallmart.
Just because technology has beaten the pace set by the various copyright acts around the world does not mean that we have any level of self-entitlement to the hard work of others. The day when we’re happy to take for free the fruits of the labours of those that allow us to assign a romantic moment, a melancholic reminscence or a fantasy landcape that allows us to escape the drudgery of our everyday lives is the very minute that we can and should happily kiss goodbye our right to experience the next generations creativity. It will be gone. If we’re happy to steal it, simply there will be no facility to encourage it.
So…wait. You people FOR pirating
(stealing) someone elses work, are now all in a tizzy when it happens to you?
Have I got that right?
There is a reason music sucks now! and movies!
WHY should my band work, sweat, and spend money, to put out a cd that will only be stolen?
And PLEASE dont give me a bunch of BS about how “Gee, IF the public likes it, they will then buy it!”
No. They wont.
THEFT, is theft. Get it?
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