Lily Allen Bumps Heads With Fellow Musicians Over Music Piracy

Posted on Sep 22nd 2009 4:20PM by Emily Tan
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Not only is Lily Allen against illegal file-sharing, she'll get into the ring with anyone who doesn't see things her way. Allen recently blasted the Featured Artists' Coalition, a British musician advocacy group that includes Billy Bragg and members of Radiohead, Pink Floyd and Blur, for recently speaking out against the UK government's plans to cut off web connection to anyone who downloads music illegally.

While the big-name bands can say that it's OK to give away music, Allen thinks that it won't help any up and coming acts any good. "They do sell-out arena tours and have the biggest Ferrari collections in the world," Allen wrote on her MySpace blog. "For new talent though, file sharing is a disaster as it's making it harder and harder for new acts to emerge."

Allen has also set up her own blog, asking musicians to take a stand against illegal file-sharing. Natasha Khan of Bat for Lashes, James Blunt and Tom Chaplin of Keane are just some of the artists who have joined Allen's movement.

The FAC have responded to Allen's accusations in a statement on the group's website explaining that they object terminating the internet connections of individual music fans "Who download a few tracks so as to check out our material before they buy" and want those websites "seeking to make money from giving our songs away" to be shut down.

Allen is on a roll and posted her thoughts on the FAC's statement. And while she doesn't want this to divide British artists, this debate looks like it'll be continuing for a long time.