Music Stars Back ‘Three Strikes’ Music Piracy Plan

Illegal downloaders in the UK beware: the list of musicians ready to put the kibosh on your internet connection if you’re downloading illegally is getting longer, and more influential every day.

According to NME, Radiohead’s Ed O’Brien, Blur’s Dave Rowntree and Keane’s Tim Rice-Oxley are among the musicians who have signed up to a motion by the Featured Artists Coalition to support the idea of a ‘three strikes’ rule for illegal downloaders. Under the proposed deal, those who illegally download would receive up to three letters with increasing severity, then a downgrade on the speed of their internet connection if they continue.

George Michael’s name on the list, so the FAC definitely means business. Don’t FAC with them! (one might say).

A message on FAC website, following a meeting yesterday (September 24), read:

“Our meeting voted overwhelmingly to support a three-strike sanction on those who persistently download illegal files, sanctions to consist of a warning letter, a stronger warning letter and a final sanction of the restriction of the infringer’s bandwidth to a level which would render file-sharing of media files impractical while leaving basic email and web access functional.”

The ‘three strikes’ plan is opposite what the UK government has in mind for music pirates of the web; they view it as more of a last resort option against the copyright bandits. The government had been leaning towards just dropping the hammer completely and pulling the illegal downloaders internet connection from the get-go.

Interestingly, there was rift between musicians over this very issue of punishing illegal downloaders, with the likes of Lily Allen, Elton John and Annie Lennox battling FAC over whether file sharers should be disconnected from the internet altogether. The FAC actually opposed the abovementioned trio, noting that the government’s proposals to stifle illegal downloading were almost too tough.

But there was a meeting. There was lots of yelling. And then… peace. (totally speculating about the yelling).

So now everyone can breathe a sigh of relief because the FAC faction and Team Lily have settled their differences, and now all the music stars agree that downloaders should have their bandwidths ‘squeezed’ and not shut off entirely.

The damage from this rock star drama centers on Allen, who may or not be quitting the music business due to all this downloading madness. Allen was leading the charge on her website against online music piracy. Things got out of hand quickly, with artists like Billy Bragg and O’Brien totally opposed to Allen’s hardliner stance.

About that meeting, O’Brien described it as “quite emotional” and “a little heated at times.”

She was “extremely brave” to turn up, O’Brien told BBC News.

“She’s taken a lot of flak for what she’s said. What she’s done has been brilliant because she started the process where artists have stood up and said, you know what, there is a consequence to illegal file-sharing.

“In the meeting, we didn’t always agree but we came to an agreement that we thought was good for everyone.

“We’re going to have further meetings like this, we’re going to get together – we’ve realised the importance of doing this together,” he said.

But now Allen has joined ranks with about 100 other British musicians to deal with illegal music downloading. And there’s also reports that Allen isn’t quitting the ‘biz. She has an album to promote for goodness sakes!

Do you agree with a 3-strikes plan to curb illegal downloading?