back to article Lloyd-Webber calls for clampdown on ISPs

Musical theatre impresario Andrew Lloyd-Webber has railed against ISPs in the House of Lords for profiting from internet piracy, and urged the government to clamp down hard. In a debate on Thursday, Lloyd-Webber claimed the government's proposed regime to discourage illegal file-sharing will not achieve its aim of reducing …

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  1. Dave

    Decline of the Record Industry

    My personal contribution to the decline of the record industry merely reflects that, like my parents before me, I consider modern music to be mostly crap. The fact that I'm not buying CDs or paying for downloads does not mean I'm illegally using P2P networks, it means I choose not to acquire the music at all.

    I suspect that a sensible, legal downloadable music scheme that reflects the current state of the industry in its pricing would probably cut the illegal stuff, simply because it would be legal. Always assuming they haven't missed the boat by trying to suppress the new technology.

  2. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
    Pirate

    What Roger Waters said

    We cower in our shelters

    With our hands over our ears

    Lloyd Webber's awful stuff

    Runs for years and years and years...

    An earthquake hits the theatre!

    But the operetta lingers

    The the piano lid comes down

    And breaks his fracking fingers

    ...It's a miracle.

  3. Steve Coburn
    Unhappy

    I actually like...

    Phantom of the Opera... Can I still post here?

    I mainly buy albums, admittedly most of them are compilation of greatest hits, but I have bought a few new ones. I rarely come across tracks I hate. (If you only like one track of an album could I recommend revising your music tastes? I recommend some decent Blues!) I audition the albums using Amazon. If I like the album I buy it and download (if cheaper than the physical CD). If ISPs are forced to revert back to 56k dial up to keep ALW and the 'biz' happy then I'll no longer be able to listen to samples of the albums before I buy and I just won't buy then amy more.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    That's right, mate...

    You're making tonnes of money and we're making none. How 'bout making sure we can make some by unilaterally screwing your paying customers to the wall. Thanks.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    . .... Lloyd-Webber's awful stuff.

    Runs for years and years and years. ...

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Flame

    The man's an idiot

    He should stick to composing tripe and leave anything requiring a modicum of intellectualism to others.

    FFS...

  7. Maty

    ain't it scary

    watching politicians trying to legislate on something they don't know the first damn thing about?

    I do know IT and I can see HM gov making a right horse's arse of trying to control it. I know little about nuclear power, traffic control, or the mechanics of immigration or national defence. It's rather chilling to realize that the muppets allegedly running the show are probably just as ignorant.

  8. Mathew White
    Thumb Down

    What's worse?

    I think anyone who voluntarily downloads Andrew Lloyd-Webber 'music' should be locked up.

    Not because piracy is illegal, however.

  9. Chris Bidmead

    All that sucking...

    Conservative Lord Luke [said ]"To sit back and do nothing while online piracy sucks the profitability out of such a productive sector at any time would clearly be irresponsible..."

    Where, oh where, was Lord Luke when the buggy-whip market needed him? And when that bastard Gutenberg sucked the profitability out of the hand-written manuscript market?

    --

    Chris

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Stop

    too late

    the movie industry is ALREADY being killed by broadband 'like the music industry' - who needs 10 or 20mb broadband realistically? not that many people - and yet many people get it. why? because then they can download those nice XVid/DivX videos via [any random P2P program] .

    usually their mates set it up for them - this is just one rung up from what used to happen - when their mates gave them a nice DVD copy of the same file each weekend down the pub. you only have to listen when your down the pub on a friday or saturday to hear this exchange occuring.

    however, I'm not condoing this - the movie and music industry need to sort their business model out. when you hear they've made XX million profit at the box office and recouped all movie costs, you wonder why they charge 15 quid for the DVD (production cost 50p) and 20 quid for the bluray (production cost 1.10p) - the movie industry gets three or more bits at the cach cherry. theatrical, disc and TV release (maybe add in Satellite exclusive and commercial (eg airplane rights) and you've got loads of ways). the music industry has the album release which is supported by single releases...and airplay payments. they then have to use tours/concerts to get cash for the band. basically, both industries have to work on ways to maximise profit whilst reducing the cost to the end user - direct sales is ideal - cut out the distributers and sell direct via internet portal system? sell a 'watch X number' type of system - like DVD hire - i download a file. i get to watch it twice, then its not watchable. pay 2 or 3 quid for this. thats another revenue stream. personal copies - the movie has your name embedded in it somewhere etc.

    fundamentally, you know the government will step in. either like the french (3 strikes and you're out), or the swedes - the ISPS give your details to the copyright protection agency. nice.

    however, the UK government dont want this...as they know more than half the BB users will turn off or reduce speed their broadband and that'll make 'broadband britain' look decidedly sh*t.

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Wait

    Who is lloyd webber?

    And does anyone care?

  12. Codge
    Happy

    @ Destroy all monsters

    Ha!

    This species has amused itself to death!

    Brilliant album by good ole Roger. Probably his best, although they're all worth a listen...

    I have it on vinyl and CD. Now you've reminded me, I think I'll nip off to isohunt and grab the MP3. I'll be fucked if I'm gonna buy it for a third time.

    ALW. Ferret faced little twat, if ever I saw one. FOAD.

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Pirate

    Arrrrggh Mateys!

    Been pirating for years. Had a few DMCAs over the time because of it. A lot of what is commented here is true. Points:

    - The "big" pirates are people who have not and will never pay for music. So these supposed financial woes are not "losses", they are "never were"s. The smaller pirates will be scared away by a single ISP suspension or threatening letter and are usually just "sampling" potential buys anyways.

    - Your typical pirate knows more about the internet and computers than the people trying to enforce the antiquated laws he/she is breaking. Be it some watchdog hired by a movie studio to rip IPs from torrent trackers, to lawyers flinging their flimsy and unfounded lawsuits about. Every time they think they've got it on lockdown, a new technology that has been underground for 6 months already pops up.

    - There are conflicting ideas in this battle against piracy. The internet is about the open and free exchange of data. Copyright is about restricting said data. The 'right holders' can kick and scream all they want, but they are NOT going to be able to stop piracy on the internet any more than they can make water flow uphill. At most, they can hope to slow it down until it evolves yet again.

    - The amount of money these 'right holders' make is already outstanding. An artist 200 years ago could only dream of making ends meet for his or her work. Now we got these super stars living the high life by packaging and selling the remixed mush of better art to the brain dead masses. The good stuff is free anyways.

    My insane solution: Create an open source software project for a program that can generate the pop crap coming out now-a-days by applying randomness to simple musical theory. I bet the computer will come up with more originals than some of these so-called artists. At that point, their copyrights will be worthless and we can stop giving our ISPs excuses to throttle our bandwidth.

  14. John Bailey
    Alert

    How the music biz is losing out.

    Pretty simple.

    1) Filler track model not working any more.

    If I can buy a single track for a few pence, why would I pay the full whatever it is for the whole album? Especially when I can preview the tracks before I buy.

    2) Second hand albums easier than ever to get.

    Amazon, Ebay etc. No problem getting an album for a few quid. No money reaches the poor starving artists and the poor recording companies. And if the plod kick in my door, they don't find any bootleg DVDs or dodgy MP3 files.

    3) General annoyance. if the music business is in such dire straits, then how come there are so many multi millionaires? true. Not every musician is filthy rich, but when Andrew Lloyd Bagpuss and Pete Waterman are the designated whiners, it doesn't really do their case much good. Perhaps the talented artists are too busy working to bother with empty PR fluff.

    In truth. The most I have paid for an album in the last few years is about £7 tops. Downloads or CDs. And I don't file share. But the music biz doesn't usually get my money either.

    Mine's the one with the hammer and nails in the pocket.

  15. pctechxp

    He's been stealing from us for years

    This is rich coming from a man who gets the Beeb (read TV tax payers) to fund his search for the next 'star' in his portfolio of garbage.

    I don't doubt he has his nose in the Westminster trough too.

    Shut up and keep writing crap for people with braindead morons with more money than sense Andy

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Pirate

    If he says he has no answers...

    ...then why is he speaking?

    He may like the sound of his own voice, but that doesn't mean we should all have to listen.

  17. Anonymous Coward
    Stop

    @MnM

    "There are even dire predictions that the internet will grind to a halt over the next few years. Dealing with piracy removes that threat.'"

    NO that problem could be solved by the ISPs not selling more bandwith than they have.

    As for inappropiate content for minors.. comeone you can´t be that daft

  18. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Surely...

    ... distributing Lloyd-Webber's music (whether by piracy or legal downloads) would be legally the same as distributing malware in any case?

    Hang 'em high!!

  19. Ben Rosenthal

    I'd probably rather be caught...

    downloading CP, than anything by that weird fecker.

  20. Dave Cheetham

    Pirates lies

    Most freeturds use the excuse that they only want to listen to the music before they buy and that is why they don't see anything wrong in downloading. They all come up with the crap that they will go out and buy the song / album if they like it. With Spotify, you can listen free to the whole song/album, almost any song you want as the library grows, legally and decide if you like it.

    Pirate Bay is no longer needed as it is a business model that doesn't return anything to the copyright holder/music artist. Spotify does.

    Why you are so in favour of the "ILLEGAL" activities of Pirate bay and their type amazes me. But then you really do want something for nothing. F***IN FREETURDS!

  21. Anonymous Coward
    Pirate

    only one word to describe mr Webber

    twatdangle.

    That will be all.

  22. Andi

    Lloyd Webber calls for Clampdown on ISPs

    The poor darling must be all but destitute because of all the commission he's losing. Anybody up for offering him a place on their couch?

  23. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    self-important-ignorant-twat

    "Lloyd-Webber contrasted BT's 2007 profit of £5.78bn with the shrinkage of the entire UK record industry to an annual turnover of less than £1bn."

    Yes and while at it why not contrast the profit of the supermarket chains with the shrinkage of the entire UK high street grocery store industry? Or the (at least until the financial crisis) the profit of the car industry with the shrinkage of the entire horse cart industry? etc...

    You know - its kind of in the name: "record industry"... Wake up! With very few exceptions - we don't want them anymore!

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