Business

British Music Industry Split on Whether to Constrain or Terminate File Sharers' Bandwidth

During a three hour meeting in London on Thursday night, a group of prominent British recording artists voted overwhelmingly to support a plan to warn music file sharers twice, then restrict their bandwidth. Although this debate directly concerns the U.K., legislators in other countries will likely watch how the situation plays out and could adopt […]
Lily Allen who originaly came out strongly against file sharing tempered her stance after she was revealed to be sharing...
Lily Allen, who originally came out strongly against file sharing, tempered her stance after she was revealed to be sharing unauthorized MP3s on her website. Photo: Baptiste Pons

During a three hour meeting in London on Thursday night, a group of prominent British recording artists voted overwhelmingly to support a plan to warn music file sharers twice, then restrict their bandwidth. Although this debate directly concerns the U.K., legislators in other countries will likely watch how the situation plays out and could adopt similar legislation if Britain deems it a success.

The Featured Artists Coalition, including Lilly Allen, George Michael, Ed O'Brien of Radiohead, Billy Bragg, Badly Drawn Boy, Kate Nash, Robbie Williams, Mick Jones, Nick Mason of Pink Floyd and others, voted strongly in favor of a proposal to limit repeat infringers' internet access, but stopped short of Lord Mandelson's proposal to boot file sharers from the internet entirely.

This represents a more united front than these artists had presented in the past, when some members backed booting file sharers from the net while others (especially O'Brien and Mason) proffered a more tolerant view of file sharing. Their opposition to terminating infringers' internet access is derived from research indicating that file sharers spend more money on music than other segments of the population.

However, much of the rest of the British music industry agrees with Mandelson that repeat infringers should be kicked off the net -- at least temporarily. The Musicians' Union, the royalty organization PRS, and several groups representing labels, managers and musicians support the idea of warning then temporarily suspending the heaviest infringers' internet accounts "as a last resort."

Regardless of whether heavy file sharers will have their accounts restricted or terminated, British ISP British Telecom claims that monitoring, warning, and restricting the bandwidth of file sharers would cost them $1.6 million a day, raising the rates of British internet subscribers -- regardless of whether they're music fans -- by $38 per year, while adding no direct revenue to the music industry.

Considering the high cost of policing and disciplining internet subscribers, some wonder whether the money would be better spent directly compensating copyright holders for music being traded, rather than spending the money on enforcement. However, Geoff Taylor, chief executive of the British Phonographic Industry, called BT's $1.6-million-per-day figure "unsubstantiated" and told the Guardian UKthat the ISP should "recognize that reducing illegal use of its network is a cost of running a socially responsible business."

One of the main stars to come out against file sharing, Lilly Allen, changed her tune after TechDirt pointed out the hypocrisy of her anti-file-sharing stance. The pop star had uploaded several MP3 "mix tapes" to her website containing the work of other artists and encouraged her fans to download them for free without compensating anyone. (If using bit torrent to access music results in getting your internet privileges limited to "basic e-mail and web access," then putting free MP3s on a well-publicized website to boost your profile among fans should probably be grounds for losing cellphone access too.) Allen responded by deleting the MP3s. Then, after fans posted arguments against her position on her anti-file-sharing blog, she deleted just about all of the content on the website and threw her support behind the Featured Artists Coalition for last night's vote.

"The last week or so there has been a perceived split in our opinions as artists... [but] we all came together," Radiohead's Ed O'Brien told The Guardian UK. "I think everyone has listened to one another and been human beings and reasonable."

See Also:

Photo: Baptiste Pons