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MPA/Blunt support government’s three-strikes moves
By CMU Editorial | Published on Monday 21 September 2009
The Music Publishers Association has, unsurprisingly, thrown its support behind the government’s latest plans to force the internet service providers to take action against persistent file-sharers through a “gradual response” programme (that will actually include quite a few more strikes than three, but which we’re still calling ‘three-strikes’, mainly because we’re attached to the baseball picture we use to illustrate these stories on the website).
As previously reported, even though the government’s ‘Digital Britain’ report earlier this year was somewhat non-committal on forcing ISPs to take a more proactive role in the fight against file-sharing, since last month the government has become quite keen to do just that. That news has caused some in the music industry (mainly rights holders like record companies and music publishers, or those who sell recordings) to get all smiley, while others, including the Featured Artists’ Coalition, British Academy Of Songwriters, Music Producers’ Guild and the Music Managers Forum have been generally critical of the new plans, arguing that suspending the net connections of file-sharers will not stop file-sharing, and will just piss music fans off.
I think we knew that the big music publishers would be with the big record companies on this issue, and the MPA confirmed last week that they were supporting the “graduated response” programme the government was now proposing. And the trade body’s top guard confirmed to Music Week they’d written to the government to say so.
Meanwhile the artist community continues to chatter on this one. As previously reported, the artists are somewhat divided. The Featured Artists’ Coalition are among the biggest critics of the government’s new plans, though the Musicians’ Union are in support, and a number of established artists that you might expect to find at a FAC meeting have said they support any new laws that might stop online piracy. Lily Allen has been most vocal so far, supported by Patrick Wolf. Today, it’s Mr James Blunt.
He writes in The Times: “At long last the government is looking to legislate to protect the industry. Peter Mandelson is looking to engage the internet service providers who, in my opinion, handle stolen goods, and should take much more responsibility. How this legislation pans out, and if it goes through at all, is critical to the survival of the British music business”.
