This was taken from Entertainment Weekly Online:

"On the Download


Britney, Madonna, P. Diddy make anti-piracy ads. They join dozens of other stars in an industry campaign to discourage file-swapping by Gary Susman

''Would you go into a CD store and steal a CD?'' Britney Spears asks, making an analogy to unauthorized Internet downloading of music files. ''It's the same thing, people going into the computers and loggin' on and stealing our music.'' Spears, Madonna, and dozens of other artists are making such statements in a new industry-sponsored ad campaign aimed at discouraging online music piracy.

The multimillion-dollar campaign will include TV spots featuring Spears, Nelly, Missy Elliott and others speaking out against illicit file-swapping. The campaign also includes print ads headlined, ''Who Really Cares About Illegal Downloading?'' Answer: a list of 89 artists, including Spears, Madonna, P. Diddy, Eminem, the Dixie Chicks, Shakira, Nelly, Elliott, Stevie Wonder, Elton John, Sting, Nas, Luciano Pavarotti, Diana Krall, and Sheryl Crow. The full-page ads began appearing Thursday in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Congressional newspaper Roll Call, and other papers.

It's not clear how effective a campaign will be that advertises in papers not known for their readership among young music listeners, or that includes statement by millionaires like Sean ''P. Diddy'' Combs, saying ''Put yourself in our shoes!'' Nonetheless, the industry considers piracy a serious threat, blaming it for the 5 percent drop in CD sales in 2001 and the 7 percent drop in the first half of 2002.

Thursday also marks the start of Congressional hearings on Internet piracy. The House is expected to explore efforts by the major labels to provide legal, paid downloads, efforts which have been criticized not only for failing to provide a cheap and easy-to-use alternative to piracy, but also for possible antitrust violations that make it difficult for independent labels to compete online."


Why are these artists more worried about the 5-7% drop in sales instead of the 95% lack of profit they make from their work?

The record companies are stealing more from them than the fans are, but for some retarded reason they decide to do commercials to help the record companies steal even MORE from them.
[This message was edited Fri Sep 27 10:31:48 PDT 2002 by Tom]

that's why i think prince is doing the right thing, suing the download site. unauthorized distribution of protected intellectual property is not ok

but the record companies taking more than their fair share of profits is another issue, isn't it? and the artists are on a pretty tight leash, i'd imagine. and so they won't publicly question the terms of their contracts for fear of losing their star status. look what happened to mariah. look what's happening to MJ. pathetic freak that he is. played right into their hands, he did. or maybe, some artists don't mind being pimped out and don't mind if the record company takes the lion's share in exchange for 'clear channeling' them into every house and home across america. . .

Tom said:

Well... this quote just sums up her intelligence level perfectly!

"Let's get the obvious out of the way: This is not just about money (as some of the more cynical people will think). This is as close as you get to what's right and what's wrong. Metallica have always been in favor of giving the fans as much access as possible to our music. This includes taping sections at our concerts, and streaming our music via our website. And while we certainly revere our fans for their continued support and desire for our music, we must stress that the open trading of any copyrighted material is, in effect, the looting of our art. And that is something that no artist can, in their right mind, condone. We are in the business of art. This is a walking contradiction if ever there was one. However, there is no denying it. On the artistic side, Metallica create music for ourselves first and our audience second. With each project, we go through a grueling creative process to achieve music that we feel is representative of Metallica at that very moment in our lives. We take our craft -whether it be the music, the lyrics, or the photos and artwork- very seriously, as do most artists. It is therefore sickening to know that our art is being traded, sometimes with an audio quality that has been severely compromised, like a commodity rather than the art that it is. From a business standpoint, this is about piracy- a/k/a taking something that doesn't belong to you; and that is morally and legally wrong. The trading of such information -whether it's music, videos, photos, or whatever- is, in effect, trafficking in stolen goods. Back to the obvious: Very successful recording artists are compensated extremely well for what they do. For every Metallica, however, there are an endless number of bands who rely on what ever they can get in royalties to survive. And while we all like to take shots at the big, bad record companies, they have always reinvested profits towards exposing new bands to the public (although sometimes not the RIGHT bands). Without this exposure, many fans would never have the opportunity to learn about tomorrow's bands today. Napster and other such sites were obviously not conceived to lose money. They, like the labels, must make money or they're out of business. And whatever money they are generating from their site is dirty money. It's being taken out of the hands of the artist and the record labels and put into the hands of another corporation."
-- Lars Ulrich, Metallica

The fans need to speak out about price gouging.
I know it's wrong but i hate to see a millionaire complain that some kid who makes 10 bucks an hour is downloading a song or two from an album that's already made them millions.

XxAxX said:

but he isnt doing that...he is going after someone who posted a link to the site that allowed uploading of the tunes...cause prince is *dumb* like that..

they need to Bitch&Moan to the Labels that Send there Music to BMG,&Columbia House&they don't get a dime for it.someone mentioned Michael Jackson:well MJ has a Site where folks can Download MP3's off of that Site.I got a few things.matter of fact MJ was close to in Exchange with Napster gonna drop some tracks but it didn't fully come off.but Nevertheless I don't think MJ cares at this stage.Madonna outta give that up.She is very Highly Bootlegged.Stevie Wonder: drop something to Bootleg.Nas is Bootlegged left&right&for a Rapper it adds that much Power.

These artists are a little mis-guided.File-swapping is here to stay.There's nothing they (or the record companies) can do about it.They should be glad that fans are interested in their work and want to obtain it anyway they can.Once the fans stop caring about you and your music,your career is over.

These artists are multi-millionaires,and I don't think they're gonna get much sympathy from the public.Britney Spear's comments are particularly humorous..."Would you go into a CD store and steal a CD? It's the same thing,people going into the computers and loggin' on and stealing our music".Boo hoo!! Cry me a river!!

"people going into the computers and loggin' on" - Britney Spears.

Intelligent!

SkletonKee said:

FYI, there's a huge lawsuit gong on right now in the States between the RIAA and mp3board.com on the issue of linking to music files hosted on other sites, so the legality of the issue in the US has yet to be determined.

DavidEye said:

Dig That 1.

tommyalma said:

What, you're supposed to log on? shit

bkw said: