Ed O'Brien on illegal file-sharing [22/09/2009]

[DaGavinX]

1-Stop piracy

2-All pirates will run to the stores to buy your music.

riiight....

[curiosofsigns]

Ed O' Brien talks reactionary bollocks shock!

[comedytracker]

Saying you are anti-sharing is a flag saying you are a sellout.

[starofcctv94]

music's just too expensive, you expect me to pay 70p for a three miniute song, thats £14 per hour it takes me almost 3 hours to pay for one hour of music, If you think about it most small bands wont charge more than £20 to see a gig that last about 2 hours. Plus if you look at the top 40 all the music videos are packed full of advertisements, all it is, is greed.

[telecasterthommy]

@starofcctv94 that's ridiculous

[NOSFERATUalu]

hey that interviewer looks a LOT like Bill Clinton!

[emilyinbetweener]

Yeah Radiohead might exist if they didn't get paid for anything, but they wouldn't make as much music or would tour because they would have to have regular jobs to pay for this music making and to live. You can get anything, food, clothes, cars etc. for free if you steal it. I like Radioheads music but god their fans are fucking annoying, as bad as Justin Biebers fans :/

[OliverKellly]

I wouldn't mind wiping out the music of most contemporary musicians :P

[curiosofsigns]

@OliverKellly Or indeed old musicians. But time does that for you.

[MrXclio]

lilly allen gary barlow, and james blunt, yeah i bet the pirates are shitting bricks.

[TheParanoidAndroid1]

I've illegally downloaded a considerable amount of music. However, 99% percent of it I've deleted, bought the CD, or is currently in my list of CDs to get. I spend more money on music than anyone I know.

[StudioScarecrow]

your username scares me

also, what's with the lily allen hate? why are radiohead fans such snobs? can't we all just like what we like and not listen to what we don't?

[THEDISABLEDFERRET]

This is incorrect, if an artist wants to become rich from music, they must tour, you cannot just create a song and become a millionaire, it doesn't work like that. and SHOULDN'T

[SocialistInt]

Sharing is caring

[paulrpinson]

dark nets

[superwiicrazy]

i love ed.

[danspivey91]

i buy 100% of my music, much like when i go to a supermarket i pay for 100% of the goods i pick up, not 90% of the goods using a silly excuse like "thats what people do nowadays"

[DaGavinX]

@danspivey91 Do you share anything to charity? Or you just say "this is copyrighted material, buy your own food"?

[danspivey91]

@DaGavinX that is the worst argument i have ever heard, what your saying is that willingly giving something to someone, and someone coming up to you and simply taking it off you are the same thing? read your own comment again, thats what you're saying

[DaGavinX]

@danspivey91 Not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is: sharing is not stealing. Your analogy fails.

[danspivey91]

@DaGavinX at the end of the day its the bands that suffer, do you think the record labels are going to give the bands the same money to record as before and take a dent in their own profits instead? no chance, they are going to take as close to the same level of profit as before but give the artists less money instead.

[DaGavinX]

@danspivey91 Suffer how? If record labels don't care about funding their own artists. That's their problem. Anyways, they still profit a lot (record labels, that is), so sharing doesn't affect their profits. Sharing already existed, and what bands are suffering?

[danspivey91]

@DaGavinX thats what im saying, the record company will not lose out, only the bands will. bands dont sell as many records (and that includes legal downloads) as they did 15 - 20 years ago, and thats fact, and how can they when millions of people can get the albums for free? so when a new band gets signed to a record label they have to take a lower royalty rate than they used to give artists, so the band has to tour more and work harder to make money.

[DaGavinX]

@danspivey91 Very few people buy records now, at all. With programs like iTunes, for example. The mediocrity and the rising price of music also have to taken into account.

The real money for bands is in touring, record label pretty much squeeze all the money from records. Unless you're Lady Gaga and your records sell like hotcakes, there isn't much money for artists in records. So, touring more instead of putting crappy auto-tuned albums would be good idea for boosting sales.

[danspivey91]

@DaGavinX chart and popular music has always been rubbish though, thats not a new thing, its not worse now than it ever was, and remember i included itunes in my point (legal downloads) I was watching an interview with Suede's bass player and he was saying when they started they made very good money from record sales, but new bands have to tour alot more than they did because

a) records dont sell as much (you can get them free now)

b) labels dont pay as good a royalty rate anymore

[DaGavinX]

@danspivey91 Well, I already said that. When you just buy the best songs of a record in iTunes, why would you want the whole thing? If you can download (legally, for the sake of argument), why go to store to buy the CD?

Anyways, so what if bands have to tour more? Certainly fans would like to see their favorite bands live more (I know I would).

It's a fact that record labels squeeze out every penny they can from artists, but that's because they're greedy bastards.

[danspivey91]

@DaGavinX I know what you're trying to say but you're missing the point of what im saying a wee bit..... bands make money from itunes, im not talking about having to buy physical records, im all for any format whatsoever so long as the band make money from it, what im talking about is illegal downloading (or file sharing if you want to call it that) which the bands are missing out on making money from.

[DaGavinX]

@danspivey91 Yes, but record sales go down if people don't need to buy the records. So that would explain why record sales are not the same as before.

Bands make money from sales, touring, etc. You wouldn't expect them to keep making money from something they already sold, right?

[danspivey91]

@DaGavinX but the thing is, you would have had alot of people who used to buy records, but now those same people will say "screw that i can get them for free now" there is no question the bands are missing out there. my main point isnt so much about physical record sales its about the artist missing out, which is what the whole file sharing debate is all about.

[DaGavinX]

@danspivey91 That's the pretty way of seeing it. What about people who a) can't afford the CD or quite frankly have other things more important to buy or b) wouldn't buy the record anyways? It's pretty unrealistic to think that everyone who file-shares would buy the music, so the bands wouldn't get anything from the them regardless. But it's also true, that not everyone who file-shares doesn't buy the music.

[DaGavinX]

@danspivey91 Now, if the issue is merely "bands want more money". That's really not anyone's problem. If I have a record and a friend asks me to borrow it to them I'm certainly not going to tell to go and buy it themselves.

Money, moves the world... and makes laws.

[danspivey91]

@DaGavinX its not bands wanting MORE money, its getting paid what they are legally entitled to. computer games cost about 300% more than albums, but i dont see people bitching about that? oh yeah cos its not 'fashionable' to complain about that is it? i bet anything thing your a games freak arent you? (i fucking hate computer games) no doubt your a fucking student as well yes?

[DaGavinX]

@danspivey91 Don't be so dramatic. They get paid for what they do. But what they want is to MAKE you buy their music and that's just pathetic.

[lizardkingsajrs]

i will pay anything to watch Radiohead live

[WhoahCanada]

I buy 95% of my music. The small amount artists lose from me illegally getting their music is offset by the large amount I spend later on on them if I like them. I just wish more people would take this attitude . It's okay now and again, but music is an art and a lot of these "artists" need to realize you need to offer more than a studio produced single now and then. Offer stuff like vinyl and artwork, like radiohead, that people need to pay to get.

[ladsbanta]

old fart's like myself!

why did no-one laugh at that?

[flame0154]

5 minutes onward I thought Ed was particularly articulate. Intelligent fellow, a lot more insightful than many of the other commentators on file sharing.

[Xallisto1]

@flame0154 All the members of Radiohead are very switched on when it comes to the net they get alot of use out of it themselves.

[scotty686]

I downloaded all my radiohead, but also bought versions of the albums on vinyl when they came out, and see them live whenever I can.

Ed <3

[flame0154]

@scotty686 here here

[MrFreedomGotAnAK]

I hope Lily Allen will burn in hell

[aer0smith1]

all my radiohead songs are from mediafire :D all 136 of them, but when things get leaked, thats kind of mean to the band. File sharing also exposes more music to more people, i discovered radiohead because of mediafire. I was not willing to spend money on radiohead because i didn't know what i was getting into, now they are my favorite band. Would i spend money on them now, yes, but back then, no

[DainBramageStudios]

The campaign foiled after 7 days.

[Task5003]

Yes, it is impossible. You'll never stop sharing, not now; not ever.

[Annie1962]

That's why it costs a lot more to attend a music concert. People who shared files are more than willing to see their favourite artist live and pay good $ for it. That's how most artists make money - from touring.

[QuantumSandwich]

It must be such a sad situation to find yourself in- completely at odds with the technology and culture of the day.

I can go into a library, upload everything from Bach to the Beatles, scan books, articles, memoirs, biographies, all legally; but the second you do it without physically walking into the library it's grounds for lawsuit and prosecution. Look at all the intellectual property available through a 3 second Google search, should that be illegal too?

We live in weird times.. :-/

[sankstar7]

Ed owns EVERYONE.

[thetwentyfourth]

As an upcoming artist (with little money behind me) I utterly embrace file sharing. My first release has seen more sales since other people started uploading my music to youtube and torrenting it, than it had ever seen with my own initial attempt at marketing. The world we live in is one in which data can spread quickly and easily. Everyone dealing with intellectual property needs to embrace this in some way or else be forever pushing shit up a hill and left in the dust of the forward thinking.

[bluesnoopz]

...........and that's why I own radiohead albums.

[bishopdante]

The internet service providers don't share their money.

What bloody royalties? Where are the royalties. Seriously. What a pisstake.

Come on. ISPs sell us out. Damn.

[adamgergich96]

hes exactly right!.. i listen to soo many different artists because of file sharing and my friends burning me cd's ect. coz im only a teenager, i dont have enough money to go buying all these albums every week. and as said, its mainly about discovery.. i own almost every radiohead album, coz i know they're all top quality. and i think every band has loyal fans that will always purchas their stuff.

[stereosanctity7]

ahhh who cares as long as bands still have loyal fans that still buy the records...does anyone have any idea how rich radiohead is? I honestly have no idea but I could make an educated guess...my guess is that they are probably pretty comfortable...i feel more sorry for new artists that have a hard time because of file sharing...but i go to record stores all the time and the radiohead section is usually all bought up...

[Pyro25892]

All the people Lily Allen's recruited, you'd have to pay me to listen to LOL

[youttebayo]

So in summary, Ed does not exactly approve of filesharing, and actually discourages of MASS filesharing (so much that it becomes a problem to sales), but admits that it's how reputation and your name gets spread around. He prefers not to harshly attack the innocent people who just want to share their favorite songs, but reprimands the people trying to make money off of it. He says this because he wants to protect artists but not alienate their fanbases. I'm perfectly okay with this.

[Mikhailfrost]

@youttebayo thanks, i would have never figured that out without you.

[altsan]

What on earth are you on about? I was commenting on her being hypocritical, confessing to steal other people's music then objecting to her music being stolen. I didn't generalise or say she wasn't entitled to make money. If you are going to comment on anything I say please read and understand the comment before doing so.

[altsan]

She is saying, good when I wasn't famous but now I am I want money. Can't have it both ways sweetheart.

[Quinnpie]

@altsan Why not? I can't stand her, but you generalise all musicians, probably even ones you like, by saying that.  These people HAVE to make money to provide great albums for the likes of me and you.

[okcomputeA]

yeah like last summer i downloaded radiohead's full discography and i never hear of them before so listened to it all and now i am obsessed with radiohead and in 1/2 of a year they have quickly become my favorite band of all time and i find myself buying their vinyl albums online and their posters and stickers, ect. so if it wasn't for file sharing i wouldn't have discovered Radiohead nor discovered many other bands, well a lot of that has to do with radiohead's awesome office charts.

[BrianWhistle]

Ed the man

[RToffler]

I only fileshare an artist's music if they're established. I'll go out and purchase a local band's music or order it, but if it's someone like Radiohead or The Beatles, who're well established, I have no problem downloading they're discography for free.

[SwordInAir]

@RToffler But where do you draw the line at "established"? When an artist has earnt a lot of money from their work that doesn't mean they deserve to have it stolen from them? Because that's what you're doing, you're stealing money that is rightfully theirs.

[Pyro25892]

Problem is prople can't be bothered going to a proper record shop nowadays and iTunes (in Australia at least) rips everyone off. Doesn't bother me so much but I can see how other people might find the pricing so steep.

[JamesBCS]

There shouldn't be money involved in music, no-one should have to pay for it. And I hate it when people go on tv and say "don't file-share, it'll damage the artists". Well I'm an artist, I'm a musician and it won't damage me. It'll damage those who have entered the music 'business' in order to get rich - x factor contestants and so on. I don't play music to get rich. I'd rather be poor and good, even famous, but not rich. Money corrupts.

[Quinnpie]

@JamesBCS Do you tour all over Britain? Are you a pretty popular musician who is in demand all over the country? If not, and you're playing local shows or shows near to where you live to not many folk, then it's no wonder you hold that view about not making money. Typical idealistic fruit!

[JamesBCS]

@Quinnpie sorry, what's your point? I'm very much aware that it's difficult for artists to make money, but that hasn't changed since file-sharing began. It's usually the ones who are small-time, compared to Radiohead etc. such as myself who struggle though. How many times have you heard a Radiohead song played over a TV programme? Every time a station does that, Radiohead get hundreds in royalties. They rake it in. Not to mention all the merchandise... You don't need to sell music.

[Quinnpie]

@JamesBCS This isn't directly related to Radiohead. But the question is if it's ok to earn money from these so called royalties (which for most bands is a pittance) why not from the sale of music which they spend years crafting and spending a lot of money to record it. If you're a full-time musician it is only right you get what you deserve from your hard work (if people are interested in it). Have a family? Have a mortgage? C'mon man, get real.

[JamesBCS]

@Quinnpie The biggest money-earner is the money you make from playing live, if you're a small outfit. But when it's unsigned bands, I don't object to paying them for their music, seeing as most of them only scrape by. You need money to pay recording studio fees etc. But when it comes to very famous bands signed to big companies, the songwriter gets less than 5% of the revenue. If there's any money involved, it should go straight to the band.

[Quinnpie]

@JamesBCS James, I understand that when it comes to established bands. My point, however, is the very one where you're talking about smaller bands. However, at what point does a band become "established"? It's a complicated argument. If you take the majors out of the equation, fine. However, if a band gets to a point where they want to reach a bigger audience, majors are really the only ones with the tools to provide that. I don't agree with their deals, but they have a part to play.

[JamesBCS]

@Quinnpie well I know it's a rather crude form of judgement, but I'd say that a band becomes established when they become widely available on file-sharing sites and youtube. I haven't found a band on btjunkie that I haven't heard of yet. As thom yorke says, I think the music business as we know it will soon collapse, or at least dramatically change. There are many tools we have today that you don't need majors in order to use eg. youtube, web advertising and distribution companies.

[Quinnpie]

Perhaps, but you could easily get lost in the wild ocean of the internet. Sometimes you need majors to get you play on radio (although why you would want that when the majority of stuff on it is shite) and give you that step up to be seen and heard. However, I agree with Yorke. There's a new model that everyone will have to adapt to, including the record companies. Unfortunately, due to file-sharing a lot of amazing indie labels go out of business. The argument is a never-ending paradox.

[JamesBCS]

@Quinnpie you should earn royalties, the reason you get them is when a company is using your music to promote itself, therefore making money through that. As music usually helps in advertising, it's only fair that you should get a share of the money made. It's not the same when I download music on my computer, I'm not using it to earn money.

[Quinnpie]

@JamesBCS Also, I'm not arguing with you as regards whether or not a band should earn royalties.  Of course they should. My point is that royalties aren't that great unless the band is in a position to negotiate a deal that benefits themselves. Take Spotify or whatever. Fuck all royalties. If it's a company using a band's song to promote themselves, of course they should pay a handsome fee. Both being musicians, we're on opposite sides of the fence. But it's very complicated.

[kriminalcollective]

Im a visual artist, ive never made a profit from my art and i never will. Frankly, I don't give a fuck about any art that someone wouldnt do for nothing. Artists need to eat, but they dont need to make money from music.

The big lie here is; music will disappear if artists dont get paid . No the music industry will, there wil always be artists who make music for its own sake.

If all music was free artists like Lilly Allen wouldnt exist, but Radiohead would. Is that a bad thing?

[guitarreilly]

@kriminalcollective yes thank you im gonna use this when i argue about this

[Jaysmation2]

@kriminalcollective This is a very optimistic view of how music's place on this world would be affected if artists weren't paid, but the reality is these people need money: Do you really think that Radiohead would have been able to make all of there albums (bare in mind studio renting and/or construction, and equipment needed) if there was no money revolving around them? In addition to this, Radiohead, and many other musicians, have families that they need to support and provide for.

[JohnHeaven18]

file sharing is great. but if you make profit out of it then its a different story.

actually i discovered the genius of radiohead because i downloaded it for free. now i got all their albums. thanks to file sharing..

[strawdog1234567]

Ed you are wrong the tape recording of music was killing the business. CDs came in and saved the industry and then file sharing came in an fucked it up.

[skateNappreciate]

this is what i think......

if you really like a musician, fork over $10, and BUY the CD. it comes with cool artwork, the sound quality isnt compressed like most mp3's, and cmon, the fact that your helpin out your favorite artist feels cool.

[gonzof]

ed seems like Dr House! he´s a genius

[tommoking7]

so wise

[riipley]

Oh shit JAMES BLUNT!!!!!

[Joegieee]

I personally believe that downloading music is actually rather good, because people will discover more music because they don't have to pay for it. For example, radiohead has partually become famous thanks to their internet popularity. More fans => more concerts => more money. so artists should be thankful that internet file sharing exists as they wouldn't get so famous without it.

[joydivided23]

@Joegieee Unfortunately the problem is much more fundamental than that. How and why is a Record Company going to take an 'alternative' style band for the intrinsic value of their music if they are not gona sell many records due to illegal file-sharing? Thus there is a vacuum of alternative music artists making it as famous as they should at the moment.

[NicoSiete7]

como envejecio ese hombre

[budwhite1]

I listen to a wide range of music, but the gulf in class in every way possible between Radiohead and "Speech" is just light years...

[kbd2009]

If it "kills off" Lily Allen's music I'm not bothered.

[Harmomite]

Kind of looks like Greg House here (:

[ThelemicMagick]

All hail St. O'Brien...!!!

[StefanoUnlimited]

I can hardly understand that black woman....... and im black myself o_O.

[shunt007]

haha contemporary music is going to die if you don't stop listening to music? oh yeah that makes so much sense!!! not....

[radioivan18]

Doctor House!!!

[oogie11]

Ed O'Briend looks like Hugh Laurie in House, hmm, how strange...but interesting to watch this....

[monrofay]

fuck this shit file sharing is "discovery music" and a lotta other things so this guy can go fuck him self lmao

[MrDoublehappy]

fuck lilly pig slut allen

[marvelzmelvin]

all my music on my laptop would have cost me almost 5000 pounds.

15 year olds just dont have that kind of money

[Will999909]

Ed is sooo awesome.

[THERETROGAMER94]

i hate him what a dick

[littlecooney13]

speech? who the fuck is speech? everyone knows about her? lol

[23lFrench]

who is speech? Eds a legend though

[hlaakso]

i'd buy cd's... if I could afford them, but at €20 per cd I'll never afford to hear new music

[DiarmaidGNR]

Illegal downloads will kill off all the bands that perform poorly live, and will result in better live shows. Fuck Lilly Allen. - Bitch.

[itmustbeloveee]

@DiarmaidGNR TRUE!

[stiffupperlip4]

I listen to a lot of different music, so I can't really afford to buy it all, but I buy what I can. However CD's are on their way out and digital downloads really need to be cheaper.

[artofs0rr0w]

Bands don't get money out of labels anyway.

[theaterrat57]

Yeah, true tehy get all their money from touring

[DiMeola99]

not quite, as it depend on the size (demand/popularity) of the band. Someone like U2 would not have to pay for their touring costs, but a band such as Tool would. The only way to evade the publishers/record companies from taking a large cut of ANY money made is to somehow avoid them completely (like radiohead have done with the In Rainbows album).

[DiMeola99]

This comment was in respone to theaterrat57.

[OnlyVideoGuyOnEarth]

but they use their publishers to get tours up, and the publishers get money out of labels.

[artofs0rr0w]

@OnlyVideoGuyOnEarth not in our days they don't.And the publishers could get some of the tour money.

[villiparis]

Eds the man!

[naterciapsouza]

Wow!Ed is always very hot , amazing!

He has attitude.

I'm proud to see Ed taking part on this project FAC!

Good lucky my baby, prince, good man Ed!

[headline747]

Ha, Gary Barlow is against FAC and Robbie Williams supports FAC. Wonder how that could effect a Take That reunion each Brit is hoping for.

[radioivan18]

now i see that he really looks like doctor house¡¡¡¡

[djangoloughran]

fuck i feel really sorry for them...

not lol im a legend

[bodysnatchers324]

Ed's the fucking man

[AustinBrock]

You're not an old fart Ed!

[debutrans]

holy shit

he looks like gregory house in this one

[RockonRSLZ]

great one man