U2's Bono blames ISPs for piracy
Summary
The singer argued that online file sharing is hurting music and film creators and placed much of the blame on bandwidth providers.
Topics
Ever since Paul McGuinness, manager of the rock band U2, began lashing out at Internet service providers (ISPs) for allegedly profiting from and encouraging illegal file sharing, U2 fans have wondered whether McGuinness spoke for the band.
Bono, U2's outspoken frontman, cleared that up this weekend. As part of a op-ed piece in The New York Times, the singer argued that online file sharing is hurting music and film creators and placed much of the blame on bandwidth providers.
"A decade's worth of music file-sharing and swiping has made clear that the people it hurts are the creators," Bono wrote. "In this case, the young, fledgling songwriters who can't live off ticket and T-shirt sales like the least sympathetic among us."
For more, read "Bono risks becoming next Lars Ulrich" on CNET News.
Talkback Most Recent of 80 Talkback(s)
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Before recorded music...
Before recorded music there were musicians who made a living from their work. They did it by getting paid to perform. You want paid, do something to earn a paycheck. I can't get paid over and over and over and over and over again for work I did years ago. Why should musicians?
sismoc4th Jan 2010 -
When you actually create something...
Something that can be used over and over, you would like to profit from it over and over.
Especially something that requires a bit of thought in the first place.
nucrash4th Jan 2010 -
Not in perpetuity
Which is what some people want. There has to be an end at some point.
Wintel BSOD4th Jan 2010 -
When you actually create something...
Maybe Bone-o should think about going out and getting a real job instead of trying to live off music from 20 years ago.
5LitreCat4th Jan 2010 -
Human kind decided differently eons ago.
Someplace along the line we got a little screwed up. And it was the need for greed that did it.
Before singers/performers could be recorded, they only got paid for what they did, and only the most rarefied few could call themselves rich because of that, and the farther back in time you go, clearly the rarefied few gradually become the rarefied almost none.
Along comes a new technology that allows humans to record one another, and because that kind of recording wasn't particularly quick or easy, or even available to the general public for quite some time, the copies of performances could be sold for a profit. Thats nice.
But things change. One thing that hasn't changed from the dawn of man is that he shares, copies, borrows and trades. Those activities have proved to be a hugely powerful tool in the development of mankind and as such is firmly entrenched in our nature. Its not going away and it cannot be driven away just because for a period of time particular technologies were developed that were too expensive for the average person and temporarily created a new, and temporary, arm of an industry that created a new form of profit until the whole world could afford to do the same thing at home.
Its always been the same, and its not going to change in any significant way in even a hundred years to change human nature and instincts just because a man made law says it should. Its beyond pointless to try and its a reasonable argument to say that it is just plain wrong to even try and kill any form of helpful human nature just so a few can continue to make an obscene profit where modern tech and human nature combine to say that the profit doesn't naturally exist any more and can only be upheld through law.
No reasonable argument can be made to say people should be allowed to copy and sell for profit another's invention, but it makes even less sense to say those who can copy the item for themselves should not be allowed.
The world changes. Get used to it. We have seen the results of many industries that never got it and they did nothing to help themselves fit into the inevitable.
Cayble4th Jan 2010 -
Poor Paul Hewson crying in his villa in ?ze
In an article in Bloomberg Markets in March
2007, journalists Richard Tomlinson and Fergal
O?Brien noted that Bono used his band's 2006
Vertigo world tour to promote his ONE Campaign
while at the same time "U2 was racking up $389
million in gross ticket receipts, making
Vertigo the second-most lucrative tour of all
time, according to Billboard magazine. . . .
Revenue from the Vertigo tour is funneled
through companies that are mostly registered in
Ireland and structured to minimize taxes."[101]
Further criticism came in November 2007, when
Bono's various charity campaigns were targeted
by Jobs Selasie, head of African Aid Action.
Selasie claimed that these charities had
increased corruption and dependency in Africa
because they failed to work with African
entrepreneurs and grassroots organizations, and
as a result, Africa has become more dependent
on international handouts.[102] Bono responded
to his critics in Times Online on February 19,
2006, calling them "cranks carping from the
sidelines. A lot of them wouldn?t know what to
do if they were on the field. They?re the party
who will always be in opposition so they?ll
never have to take responsibility for decisions
because they know they?ll never be able to
implement them."
Here's a link to him shaking hands with the
devil.
http://k-
punk.abstractdynamics.org/archives/BonoBush.jpg
aftermarket5th Jan 2010 -
100%
With all the injustices in the world right now
why is Bono so concerned with piracy? I suspect
he's not making the money he used to. Metallica
had the same angle and in the end their true
colors shone through...U2 will be branded as
money hungry poser activists that lost their
way in the main stream. Everyone knows the
publishers make the majority of profit from CD
sales.
People will buy CD's if the music produced is
quality. Bono is completely out of touch and
bitter because they haven't made quality music
since "The Joshua Tree". You couldn't pay me to
listen to "Vertigo" which U2 sold to Apple...U2
are corporate sell outs!!! I blame the industry
for pushing low quality garbage one hit wonders
on us and expecting us to rush out and buy it.
U2 worthless - Buy MUSE the still stand for
something!aftermarket5th Jan 2010 -
Gee yeah
It should be illegal to charge for anything invented after the 19th Century. In particular, programmers should not be paid for copies of the software they write. They should be forced to perform their code in public with a guitar and harmonica.
LordLiverpool7th Jan 2010 -
Regurgitation
Instead of wasting your time and mine ... why don't you set up a bot to replay the usual media exploitation/consumer piracy/poor artists/'everyone else is to blame but me' stories over and over and over again ... like the usual worn out record that it has become?
Sorry, my mistake, that's what this post was
johnfenjackson@...4th Jan 2010 -
I love U2... but.
I wish I had pirated that last JOKE of a CD they made. No Line on the Horizon...Yuck. Crap. I have paid for all their music because I am a fan. I want my money back for this CD with 2 good songs and a whole lot of garbage. You see, this is why people (mostly college age kids) who have limited income turn to downloading music illegally..THEY DON'T LIKE WASTING THEIR MONEY ON DRIVEL.
I personally just buy all my music, because it is harder to mess with some file sharing software than just using iTunes or Amazon and paying for the music. Since they went DRM free, it is a breeze and the music works across devices which has increased sales. To whine about online file sharing now is kinda stupid.
condelirios4th Jan 2010 -
I agree
I just use I-Tunes. They make it too easy to buy music.
Most of the people I know that used to use P2P to get their music now use I-Tunes. It's just easy to use and they know what they are getting. Only the freeloaders are still using P2P to get their music. These are the same people who used to borrow you CDs so they could copy them.
voska15th Jan 2010 -
Sorry Bono
You are wrong here. ISPs are just what they say they are. They provide access to the internet. What that end user does with that internet is their problem. Do you blame ISPs for hackers or child porn freaks? I mean those are on the internet too?
Maybe I am old school when it comes to music but if a band is worth it I will buy their CD and if I have the money and time I will go see them perform live. I actually put a lot of blame on the record labels for the continuation of piracy. They keep prices high for their own greed for digital music that is of lesser quality than what is on the CD and still charge $1.00 $1.30 per song. On top of that they lace the song with DRM so you are limited to how you can play it. That is why I stay old school and will buy the CDs of the bands like so I can rip them to digital format and play them how I want. Bono and most other popular music Artists are multi-millionaires so the lesson here should be to make good music, put on good concerts, don't be jerks and become popular and you will make money.
bobiroc4th Jan 2010 -
re: Sorry Bono
I agree.
That Damn Department of Transportation for providing access to Highways and then profiting with Tolls.
Lets all blame the DOT for my speeding!
Bodazapha4th Jan 2010 -
Why is it only LOUSY musicians complain about ISPs?
I wouldn't waste my bandwidth on his drivil.
ANYTHING WORTH HAVING - I buy!
kd5auq4th Jan 2010 -
Blah blah blah
I love U2, however Bono needs to step off. Musicians don't make CRAP from record sales or accessory sales. They make their money on concerts. The stage on the U2 360 tour is gargantuan. How else is U2 going to pay for that, and put millions in their pockets? By charging $50-75 for nosebleed seats at their concerts!
pcon4th Jan 2010
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