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Snow Patrol's Gary Lightbody: Music downloads? F**king go for it

Pirate Bay founders shouldn't have been jailed says frontman

By Gary Fennelly
Friday, 24 April 2009

Snow Patrol, Odyssey, Belfast, 19 March 2009

More pictures

Pirate Bay Poll

Do you agree with the one-year jail term and fine given to Pirate Bay founders?

Yes. The court's decision was the right one.	10%
I think illegal file-sharing is wrong but the punishment was too harsh.	16%
No way me hearties. It's the pirate's life for me. This boat will never be sunk!	74%

3 comments

Snow Patrol frontman Gary Lightbody has slammed the jail sentences given to the founders of filesharing site Pirate Bay.

Lightbody, singer and songwriter of Snow Patrol, the most successful Northern Ireland export since Van Morrison, said the year-long terms are "way over the top".

The four men, Frederik Neij, Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, Carl Lundstrom and Peter Sunde, were also fined $4.5m (£3m) for copyright infringement.

“They shouldn’t have been jailed,” he said.

“A year in jail for someone doing that is crazy. The punishment doesn’t fit the crime.”

Lightbody also told The Big Issue that he wasn't against illegal music downloads.

“I’m not anti-filesharing at all. This is the modern way.

"We’ve brought it on ourselves and you have to live in the society you created.

"Music is available to everyone if they know how to get. I say f**king go for it."

He added that he paid for all his own music, however. "I love getting an album back and looking through the booklet and the artwork," he said.

"That's lost when you download it."

The four founders are refusing to pay the fine and are now seeking a retrial after it emerged that the judge in the case is a member of the Swedish Copyright Association, alongside members of the entertainment industry.

Speaking at an online press conference, Peter Sunde described the verdict as "bizarre".

"It's serious to actually be found guilty and get jail time. It's really serious. And that's a bit weird," Sunde said.

"It's so bizarre that we were convicted at all and it's even more bizarre that we were [convicted] as a team. The court said we were organised. I can't get Gottfrid out of bed in the morning. If you're going to convict us, convict us of disorganised crime.

"We can't pay and we wouldn't pay. Even if I had the money I would rather burn everything I owned, and I wouldn't even give them the ashes."

The Pirate Bay verdict appears to be achieving the opposite to the outcome intended by the copyright advocates with support for the site and its political offshoot, the Pirate Party reportedly going from strength to strength.

Since the verdict, support for the Swedish Pirate Party has surpassed that of the Swedish Green Party and it now appears that almost half of all Swedish males under the age of 30 are considering voting for the Pirate Party in the 2009 European Parliament elections.

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Well said Gary.

Gives me a chance to listen to a copy (generally of lesser quality than the original) and helps me decide if I would actually like to go out and buy an album. I wouldn't have bought the Killers recent album or Keane's Perfect Symetry had I heard them beforehand. Both are kack.

Although I've been using Spotify a lot lately instead of downloads. Check it out.

Posted by mickey | 28.04.09, 11:40 GMT

This type of behaviour is illegal and Mr Nobody should not be advising the young to steal. He should take a look at the 10 commandments. Children should have more scripture in their life then maybe this country would be in a better state.

Posted by Wesley_Artigarvan | 26.04.09, 20:50 GMT

I think the main issue here is that the record companies are cutting out all the middle men but ultimately recuperating the same profits .Historically speaking the record stores not only promoted artists but provided a valuable service to both their clients and their distributors; This has all disappeared a long time ago now. Lesssons should have been learned by both parties and changes could have been made to reflect the advent of new technology. Bands used to lose money touring and make up for it on record sales. Now it seems tours have become more profitable due to publc awareness generated by free access to the band's songs thus generating more sales via merchandising. In the olden days people used to tape the hits off radio 1 but the songs were always cut short by those annoying DJ's in case anyone hesitated to go out and actually buy the singles. The majors created their own monster and times have changed conveniently that now individuals are held responsible for digital download

Posted by Ian | 26.04.09, 00:33 GMT

Well said! Just because you file share doesn't mean you don't automatically contribute to artists or the music industry. Think about the amount of revenue that they get from advertising on Internet etc. There are other ways that they need to explore, the Internet has brought with it a world of possibilities, and one of them is the constant creation and sharing of music. It will never stop, they just need to embrace it and find another way to make money. They are a business after all, and they are not being responsive enough to the market, just like WoolWorths.

Posted by BT | 25.04.09, 22:18 GMT

Gee thanks, I Will!

RT
www.anonymity.es.tc

Posted by John Jones | 25.04.09, 21:55 GMT

Well said, Gary ... downloading doesn't stop people buying a band's records, too ... I think it's called fan mania that keeps things going ... cheers! People have been collectiing live performances since the days of saxophonist Charlie Parker.

Posted by Canute | 25.04.09, 10:42 GMT