GrindEFX

British pop singer Lily Allen made a post on her Myspace blog (I know right?) yesterday begging her fans to buy CDs. Her argument? Well… she doesn’t really have one.

“The internet is the most amazing thing, but it should be OUR thing,” she said, “and ironically piracy is just playing into the hands of the corporations. What these artists and creators do, they do for the love of it, I know its hard because money is scarce but we have to inject money back into these areas. It’s not fair to steal peoples material,I know it’s art and it has no physical value but even Shakespeare had shares in The Globe Theatre. People will lose their jobs.”

This sounds like something an artist would have said 5 years ago, are artists really still complaining about piracy? Come on Lily, it’s not even cute anymore, it’s just sad. The Internet is going nowhere, it’s time for you and your good friends at the major labels to update your business model.

The funny thing is, Lily Allen actually has a very strong and loyal fanbase and she is good at connecting with them. She could easily drop from her label and and put out her own product like many other big artists have succeeded in doing. It sounds like she’s been brainwashed to believe she needs a record label to survive, either that or she’s just too lazy to open her eyes and see that the industry she was once in no longer exists.

“People are being laid off in all areas and the record companies are no exception. My own label EMI laid off thousands last year. I don’t care so much about the high-ups (and by the way they’re always the last to go – what a surprise) but the people who are going out are the young ones, the life blood basically. They’re the ones that go first, , I’ve seen it. And the same is happening in TV and film. Why do you think you are just getting Terminator 6 and Harry Potter 7 instead of exciting new voices? Because the young voices are not there anymore. Do you care about that, or do you just want to watch and listen to the products of the last generation? Or do you want a voice that is heard and can make a difference?What I do know is we have to invest in this sector of our country guys, we are great film makers,we have incredible writers and authors, historically the best music makers, we cant throw it all away.”

Again, Lily sounds brainwashed. There has never been more opportunity for musicians and artists. The music business, the film business, the publishing business are all open playing fields right now. This was not the case ten years ago. Ten years ago the only way an artist could express themselves to the public was to give up all of their rights to “the man” and sit back while they take 90% of your earnings. This isn’t the case now. Artists can express themselves freely, finally. Lily, it’s people like YOU and your major label buddys who are ruining this freedom by running around suing your fans and isolating them to the point where they no longer want to buy music.

*Facepalm*