Age of Illegal Downloading Coming To An End Claims U2 Manager
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Monday, 11 July 2011 |
Written by Elliott Batte
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U2’s long serving manager Paul McGuinness is confident that pirating music will soon become a thing of the past, with newer, legal ways slowly taking over the industry.
McGuinness has previously spoken of his displeasure at illegal music downloads and has criticised Internet Service Providers (ISP) for not working to combat illegal music downloads, and has now written an article in The Daily Telegraph furthering his negative opinion of music piracy. The U2 chief reckons that ISPs in countries like France and New Zealand will revolutionise the online music sales industry which is currently dominated by illegal and free downloads which leave artists receiving no money for their music. He also praised US-based ISPs which are introducing a new system that will divert internet users “away from piracy” and “towards downloading and streaming music from legitimate services.”
“This has been agonisingly slow in coming,” wrote McGuinness, “but it is an important step forward in the international debate over music in the digital age.
“The idea of ISPs taking on obligations to stop copyright theft on their networks is moving into the mainstream.”
He also wrote about Spotify, whom McGuinness thinks will not last in the long-term under new plans to combat free music downloads.
"For some years, 'fighting free with free' seemed the answer to all our problems. Today, that honeymoon is over.
“Spotify, in many countries the champion of the free-to-consumer music streaming service, is now cutting back on its free offering. It is trying to migrate its fans into payers, offering a £10 monthly subscription. That is a huge challenge.”
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