Rock Stars Make A Case Against Piracy, Attack Google And Other Search Engines

A bevy of British rockstars have joined forces to crack down on piracy. Elton John, Pete Townshend, Robert Plant are just three of many artists who’ve written an open letter to British Prime Minister David Cameron attacking Google and other search engines and blaming them for being gateways to music piracy. See the complete letter below.

According to Spinner, Elton John, The Who‘s Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend, Led Zeppelin‘s Robert Plant, Simon Cowell and Queen‘s Brian May are among those demanding that the British Prime Minister follow through with the 2010 Digital Economy Act, which would severe internet access for those illegally downloading material.

Google, who is mentioned and attacked in the letter, has denied accusations of indirectly helping illegal downloading through its search engine.

Google’s UK POlicy Manager Theo Bertram said in a report that whatever their research shows depends on the filtering and blocking. Bertram also said that the more effective thing to do would be to go after the money, “to remove financial underpinnings, the advertising, [and] the payment processes from these sites.” He also added that Google doesn’t support piracy.

The rockstars’ letter urges the British government to implement the Act so that creative industries can earn a fair return on their huge investments.

The letter was sent to and published by The Daily Telegraph. Read it in its entirety below:

SIR – As the world’s focus turns to Britain, there is an opportunity to stimulate growth in sectors where Britain has a competitive edge. Our creative industries represent one such sector, which creates jobs at twice the speed of the rest of the economy.

Britain’s share of the global music market is higher than ever with British artists, led by Adele, breaking through to global stardom. As a digitally advanced nation whose language is spoken around the world, Britain is well-positioned to increase its exports in the digital age. Competition in the creative sector is in talent and innovation, not labour costs or raw materials.

We can only realise this potential if we have a strong domestic copyright framework, so that British creative industries can earn a fair return on their huge investments creating original content. Illegal activity online must be pushed to the margins. This will benefit consumers, giving confidence they are buying safely online from legal websites.

The simplest way to ensure this would be to implement the long-overdue measures in the Digital Economy Act 2010; and to ensure broadband providers, search engines and online advertisers play their part in protecting consumers and creators from illegal sites.

We are proud of our cultural heritage and believe that we, and our sector, can play a much bigger role in supporting British growth. To continue to create world beating creative content, we need a little bit of help from our friends.

Simon Cowell
Roger Daltrey
Professor Green
Sir Elton John
Lord Lloyd-Webber
Dr. Brian May
Robert Plant
Roger Taylor
Tinie Tempah
Pete Townshend

What do you think? Will this letter help the problem?