All because of you: U2 manager says ISPs are ruining music

Last Updated: Tuesday, January 29, 2008 | 1:58 PM ET

CBC News

Paul McGuinness, long-time manager of rock band U2, on Monday launched a verbal attack against illegal music downloaders, as well as internet service providers, device makers, Silicon Valley and even hippies in a speech at a conference in France.

McGuinness blamed these forces for "destroying the recorded music industry," with illegal downloading through peer-to-peer file-sharing networks the single biggest reason for why the business is in decline.

Bono and his band in 2004 made a deal with Apple CEO Steve Jobs to release a U2-themed iPod. The band's manager says artists should get a cut of every iPod sold.
(Canadian Press)

ISPs have for years profited from that illegal downloading, which occurs on their networks, and their arguments that it isn't their job to police the internet are no longer valid, he said. The ISPs, he added, have an obligation to prevent that file-sharing on their networks, and if they don't do so voluntarily, they should be forced to.

"It is time for ISPs to be real partners. The safe harbours of the 1990s are no longer appropriate, and if ISPs do not co-operate voluntarily there will need to be legislation to require them to co-operate," he said in a speech at the Midem music conference in Cannes, a speech which is also posted on U2's website. "Their snouts have been at our trough feeding free for too long."

McGuinness praised a recent initiative by the French government, where internet subscribers who are repeatedly found downloading illegal content will be disconnected. He also suggested that legitimate music downloads should be bundled into internet access fees and shared by the ISP and content owners.

EU top court makes ruling

Ironically, the European Union's top court on Tuesday ruled that record labels and movie studios cannot demand telecommunications companies to turn over the names of customers suspected of downloading copyrighted material for free.

The European Court of Justice upheld Spanish telephone company Telefonica's right to refuse to hand over information that would identify subscribers who had used the file-sharing program Kazaa to distribute copyright material owned by members of Promusicae, a Spanish trade group for film and music producers.

The group's request to turn over the information would have violated subscribers' fundamental privacy rights, the court said. European governments will need to find ways to reconcile those rights and allow copyright holders to seek some form of compensation, said the court.

McGuinness, who has managed U2 for 30 years, in his speech also targeted makers of devices that have been used to play copyrighted content, indirectly criticizing Apple and its iPod in the process.

He said content owners should get a cut of every MP3 player sold, as U2's label Universal gets with the Zune through a deal it has with Microsoft. Universal gets $1 US for every Zune sold, which helps compensate artists for the content that is ultimately being used on the player.

"Hardware makers should share with the content owners whose assets are exploited by the buyers of their machines," he said. "The record companies should never again allow industries to arise that make billions off their content without looking for a piece of that business."

'Hippy values'

McGuinness said much of Silicon Valley arose out of "hippy values" that did not include a respect for copyright and established business models. Many of the area's entrepreneurs don't consider themselves "makers of burglary kits," he said.

"There are plenty of private equity fund managers who are Deadheads," he said, a reference to hippy icons The Grateful Dead. "And embedded deep down in the brilliance of those entrepreneurial, hippy values seems to be a disregard for the true value of music."

His speech was interrupted by bursts of applause, according to the Financial Times, but bloggers were quick to condemn his remarks.

"There are so many problems with this, it's difficult to know where to begin," wrote influential technology blog TechDirt.

"The problem here isn't that others are letting the recording industry languish. It's that just about every other industry has realized that there's plenty of money to be made in the music industry."