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Lily Allen Rode Piracy to Fame, But Now It's Not OK?

Singer ripped others' music for own mixes before she was a star

By Will McCahill,  Newser Staff

Posted Sep 23, 2009 10:13 PM CDT

(Newser) – Singer Lily Allen has caused a stir with recent rants against music piracy (and a blog where she posts opinions from like-minded creative pals), but when she was trying to make it, she was guilty of just that offense. Allen included tracks from Jay-Z, Jefferson Airplane and others on mixtapes (still available, by the way) with her own songs, Michael Masnick notes in a Techdirt post "from the put-the-stone-down-lily,-that's-a-big-glass-house dept."

“If you’re downloading all your music for free, some real music fan somewhere is paying for your music,” Allen wrote today. “Unfortunately there aren’t enough people paying, which is threatening new music.” A pot-kettle situation indeed, Masnick says, particularly given how the industry has gone after so-called pirates. And, he wonders, “How could someone who is still directly distributing free music from others from her own major-label site claim a moral high ground against music being free?”

Singer Lily Allen poses for photographs at a London event Sept. 8, 2009.
Singer Lily Allen poses for photographs at a London event Sept. 8, 2009.   (AP Photo)
Lily Allen performs in Chelmsford, England, Aug. 22, 2009.
Lily Allen performs in Chelmsford, England, Aug. 22, 2009.   (AP Photo)
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Honestly, this whole thing is so insane, I'm beginning to wonder if the blog and the statements from Lily Allen are really from her. - Michael Masnick

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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 5 comments
zackmasson
Sep 25, 2009 9:36 AM CDT
I don't know about you but most of this "new" music sucks. I like the the beatles era shit. woot
wwwonderer
Sep 25, 2009 5:02 AM CDT
Before jumping to conclusions, on e has to wonder has she LICENSED any of the music she has allegedly stolen. She put whatever she want son a release as long as she has worked out arrangements with the license holder(s). Think of (cheesy) compilations like "That's What I Call Hits XXIX", or your typical Ronco, or K-Tel, or whatever compilations. NONE of those labels makes a single song; they simply license what they want. It's one of the cheapest ways to run a label: sell already-made, already-hit-proven music.
cochiserocks
Sep 24, 2009 11:58 AM CDT
er.....having a famous and successful father who stays firmly in the background allowing her to expoit her 'regular girl done good' image while benefiting from excellent management and advice (which is what steered her into the then 'credible' world of mix tapes and samples as her public 'way in' to the industry) has nothing to do with it then? SHe was never authentically anything so why the wasted column inches now?

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