'Rock stars," says Homer Simpson wonderingly. "Is there anything they don't know?" Making agreeable music was once thought to be an end in itself. Now, singers aim at nothing less than the salvation of the planet.

Coldplay had the splendid idea of planting trees to drink up the carbon emitted by their activities. Sadly, as we report today, most of the saplings sent to India's sparse soil perished from lack of care. At least they avoided the mistake made by Sting, who once gave a swathe of rainforest to its indigenous inhabitants, only for them to begin logging and mining on an unprecedented scale.

There is a lesson here, one that the millions who jump up and down at Live8 concerts should heed, namely that good intentions are not enough. The men in grey suits who, unlike musicians, have gone to the trouble of getting themselves elected to something, may know a thing or two after all.

Source: telegraph.co.u

Take part in the Coldplaying Charity Club now.

“How long before I get in? Before it starts, before I begin? How long before you decide, Before I know what it feels like?”

The first verse of Coldplay’s Speed of Sound. It is one of the songs that James Haskell plays on his iPod before matches to bring him to the correct preparatory pitch. “You choose tracks not so much for the words but for the impact, the emotion they bring out and the feelings of confidence,” he says. He might not have chosen it for the words, but “How long before I get in?” might well be his career question.

Haskell, in essence, has it all. He is nearly 6ft 4in, weighs in at more than 17st, has pace, good hands, is athletic and frighteningly dedicated. This is the man who stays behind after Wasps training for extra tackling sessions. With Joe Worsley. Full on, in a small five-metre channel. Just Haskell, and the hardest tackler in the England game.

Read the full article here

The CCC is happy to announce its first charity project.

The $1.36 campaign aims to testify that small actions can lead to big differences. All funds raised through this campaign will go to the Sponsor A Child program through which we will be in direct communication with an impoverished child who needs our help. Each month a minimum of $28.00 USD will need to be raised to support 'our child' as well as our child's community. We believe we can achieve and surpass this goal.

Read full details of the project, and how to contribute, here

What do Dido's brother, the song Happy Birthday, the Cornish surf-rock scene and the Caribbean have in common?

In their own ways they've each shaped Kubb mainman Harry Collier's songwriting and given him much-needed breaks into the music business. The band's debut album, Mother, was released last year to wide acclaim.

Radio One DJ Jo Whiley was among their early high-profile fans, and the Times declared that they could be the new Coldplay.

Read the full article here

The Hardest part single will be made available in the following countries: Austria, Holland, Germany, Finland, Greece, Taiwan, Israel, Italy and Sweden.

Release date and more details of b-sides to follow soon.

More on this news here [thanks coldpatrix]

After four Grammies, four Brit Awards and 17 million album sales, Coldplay is currently in the US attracting packed audiences for its “Twisted Logic” tour. A busy itinerary sees them returning to play the Isle of Wight Festival before heading off in summer to Australia and Japan. Handling live sound for this tour is Special Events Services (SES) who are exclusively using Lab.gruppen fP Series amplification for the front-of-house arrays and on-stage wedges.

Lab.gruppen, the Swedish manufacturer distributed exclusively in the UK by Sennheiser, is one of the leading amplifier brands within the pro audio industry. According to Jim Stevens, SES’s general manager who oversees the Coldplay account: “We have been changing over to Lab.gruppen amplifiers for the last three years. We had an amp ‘shoot-out’ in 2003 and Lab.gruppen won hands down, so we decided to start putting fP Series into all of our live-sound rigs.”“We started with fP 6400s and fP 3400s for our L-Acoustics V-DOSC rigs specified by Coldplay and Joyce Meyer Ministries. Then, in 2004, we added them to our monitor systems for Hootie and the Blowfish. For 2005, we put them in all of our amphitheatre delay systems. Then last year we installed fP Series in Coldplay's monitor rig, as well as the remainder of our monitor systems. So as far as packaging, weight, reliability and sound goes, Lab.gruppen always wins hands down!”

“In terms of loading capacity,” offers Dave Cheek, SES systems engineer for the Coldplay tour, “we can provide more watts per cubic foot with Lab.gruppen than with other brands. And these fP Series models are ultra-reliable; we have only had one or two units fail out of hundreds of amps we’ve used in the past several years.”

“For Coldplay’s on-stage monitors,” adds SES monitor technician John Kaylor, “the difference in sound quality between Lab.gruppen and several other brands we used to use is remarkable – there is additional clarity and ‘reach’ we haven’t enjoyed before.” SES can also pack twelve 6400 amps powering six bi-amp mixes for stage monitoring into a single flight case, thereby dramatically streamlining system setup and teardown.”

“Because Coldplay specifies a clean stage layout,” Cheek continues, “we had to run cables from the stage-right amps racks to the flown arrays along the lighting trusses, all of which adds additional loading to the amps. We use custom 25-metre lengths of 10-gauge speaker cabling – rather than the normal 12-gauge – to provide more horsepower to the line arrays and stage monitors. The Lab.gruppen amps handle these loads with no problem at all.”

“We like the sound of our Lab.gruppen amps for front-of-house and wedge monitors,” the systems engineer concludes. “They perfectly match the V-DOSC flown arrays, and form a perfect marriage between loudspeaker and amplifier. The added clarity offered by the fP Series is outstanding. They offer a noticeable improvement over the competition.”

More on this story here

Coldplay is to allow one of its songs to be used for an advertisement for the first time.

The band, led by Chris Martin, who is married to actress Gwyneth Paltrow, has steadfastly refused to allow its music to be used for marketing purposes so far. However, it is now permitting charity Cancer Research UK to use the song “Fix You” on a forthcoming campaign.

Paltrow’s father, the director and producer Bruce Paltrow, died in 2002 of pneumonia and complications associated with a recurrence of cancer. The charity would not confirm the campaign but said that it would make an announcement in a few weeks. Coldplay’s publishing rights are handled by BMG Music Publishing.

Coldplay released the album X&Y in June last year and the band played at Live8 in support of the Make Poverty History coalition last summer. Martin and Paltrow had a second baby, Moses, earlier this month.

More on this story here

A duet between Chris Martin and Nelly Furtado has been mysteriously dropped from the Canadian songstress's comeback album.

Martin had recorded the track 'All Good Things' for Furtado's Timbaland produced long player but the song has apparently been removed at the request of Coldplay’s label. A source told the Daily Star: "Nelly and Chris don’t have a problem and loved every minute of working together. You can even hear them having a laugh at the end of the song. But three days ago the order came through to remove it from the album. It seems EMI have a problem rather than either of the artists. I don’t know if Chris knows yet but when he finds out he’ll be furious."

Martin had previously recorded vocals for The Streets track ‘Dry Your Eyes’ but that was also pulled by EMI.

Source: gigwise.com

A young Blackpool artist's student work is turning heads at a top London gallery after being shortlisted for a prestigious national award.

Student Danielle Chappell, 24, saw her work, Linear Rhythm, chosen from more than 1,600 entries for the final of the Nationwide Mercury Prize art competition. Students across the country were set the task of coming up with a work that linked the worlds of art and music.

The best are currently on show at The Gallery at The Hospital in London's Covent Garden. "It means a lot to me that my work, Linear Rythmn', is one of the winning finalists in the Competition," said Danielle, who is studying for a BE in embroidery at Manchester Metropolitan University. "It's the first time I've had my art exhibited at a major London gallery, which is really exciting."

To reach the final, Danielle had to impress leading artistic figures including Tim Marlow, director of exhibitions at London's White Cube gallery, and Mark Tappin and Simon Gofton, who designed album covers for bands such as Coldplay and The Chemical Brothers.Sir Peter Blake, a judge and the artist behind The Beatles' legendary Sgt Pepper album cover, as well as the Circus' sculpture on Blackpool Promenade, said: "The art is from students from all over the country and it has been a difficult task choosing the winning finalists. The standard has been high and we've seen some excellent works."

The art competition is in its second year and is designed to tie in with the prestigious Mercury Music Prize, awarded every July. The overall competition winner, Gethin Wyn Jones, took home £5,000 and will also see his artwork used on the cover of the Mercury prize album this year.

There are also plans for the exhibition to be shown at other venues nationally over the course of the next year.

Source: thisislancashire.co.uk

Titan Global Entertainment, Inc. announces the addition of 400,000 songs to its revolutionary web portal, Titan Tunes.

Pursuant to an agreement with The Orchard, the leading digital distributor for independent record labels, Titan will provide its users with some of the top artists in history, including Frank Sinatra, Coldplay, Billie Holliday, Nat King Cole, Blink 182, Johnny Cash, John Coltrane, Motley Crue, and many, many more.

In addition to music, new content includes comedians such as Jerry Seinfeld, George Carlin, and the Jerky Boys.Titan Tunes, with its single-page navigation design concept and fixed-view screens keeps all controls in consumers' hands, providing the simplest user experience in the marketplace. This interface allows Titan Tunes members to easily access a vast library of music and video content.

The Orchard is the leading digital distributor for independent record labels. It represents thousands of labels and artists spanning 73 countries and every music genre. The Orchard supplies music to eMusic, iTunes, MSN, Rhapsody, Napster and over 150 other digital music stores throughout the world.

Titan Global Entertainment, Inc. is a fast growing, multi-faceted hybrid music/entertainment company that specializes in developing new music technologies, artist management, record production, traditional record distribution, digital distribution, music consulting, publishing, television & multi-media, marketing and promotion. The management team is comprised of accomplished music industry veterans and technology experts. For more information, visit www.titan-entertainment.net

Monday evening playing to a half full room in one of Cardiff's smallest venues isn't exactly the place you would expect to find a band plotting their path to world domination.

But then Liverpool cosmic beat combo The Aeroplanes aren't any ordinary outfit. So far they've wowed the crowds at the recent SXSW Festival in Austin, Texas, where they were singled out as one of the most promising acts to emerge from the hundreds of bands peddling their wares at the annual music scrum. And Stateside they've also snared themselves a celebrity fan in no lesser form than Hollywood actor Jeff Bridges. The star heard their music on iTunes and requested the use of the band's songs in his forthcoming film - critically acclaimed black comedy, The Moguls.

Couple that with critical bouquets showered on them from additional celebrity fans Liam Gallagher and Kate Moss, and you have a band you possibly wouldn't expect to see peddling their wares in such a small space.Their Cardiff appearance finds them appealing to a mix of hardcore student hedonists, borderline alcoholics (well who else hits the beer on a Monday night, except students and the alcoholically inclined!) and those who have already heard a whisper of just how good this band's songs are.

These confident Scousers deal in the sort of timelessly classic songwriting that prompted The Times to crow that 'The Aeroplanes are destined to be one of those great British bands that come along every generation. A phenomenon.'

The description isn't too far from the mark - trad influences from The Stones' loose limbed Exile On Main Street era, the edgy histrionics of Oasis and the unavoiidable similarities to Lee Mavers' Scouse icons The La's are all there in the mix. But it's the sheer scope of their vision that leaves the comparisons redundant.

They rattle through a set of songs that brim with swathes of textured hooks and dazzling three-part harmonies - it's a proper big rock sound that flooded the tiny venue and engulfed it.

The stomping Don't Stop Me carouses with the fizzing energy and rousing spirit of fellow Scousers The Zutons, Slipping Away explodes with some incendiary riffs courtesy of guitarist Paul Crowe, while You Don't Know has the roomy air and cinematic vision of the Gallagher brothers duetting with gritty troubadour Ryan Adams. It's a joyously upbeat, life-affirming country-tinged rocker that ably demonstrates The Aeroplanes' versatility and promising songwriting ability. This is a band who are seemingly afraid to play it safe, but thankfully unafraid to create something special.

All this naked ambition can be seen in next single, This Is My Love. The song that closed their set is one of those awe-inspiring, jaw-dropping moments of spectral brilliance. It's a glacial anthem to rank alongside the larger moments of arch big noise peddlers Coldplay, Keane and Embrace.

Singer Chris Kearney's magnificent raw, rasping vocals mutate into a chest-beating roar and the music spins to a breathtakingly giddy climax. It as good a tune as you're likely to hear this year - a song that if justice actually did its job for once, should propel them into the nation's consciousness. Airplay on Virgin and Radio 2 has ensured that the reality may be theirs sooner rather than later.

So to summarise, The Aeroplanes - beginning to fly.

Now watch them soar.

Source: http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk

THE MEN behind one of the regions most successful businesses have proved they have what it takes to top the UK’s definitive rich list.

The news comes after the publication of the Sunday Times Rich List UK yesterday and highlights the success of the local men.

..not the only success story from Flintshire – Coldplay guitarist Jonny Buckland, a former pupil at Ysgol Maes Garmon, has been ranked fourth on the Young Entertainers Rich List.Along with fellow band members Chris Martin, Guy Berryman and Will Champion he has netted a fortunes of £10m.

The band have been placed fourth of the Young entertainers list and tie with singer Emma Bunton and Ronan Keating.

It is the eighteenth definitive guide to the richest people in Britain and Ireland and profiles the 1,000 richest people and families in the UK.

The list is based on identifiable wealth – land, property, other assets such as art and racehorses, or significant shares in publicly quoted companies, and excludes bank accounts.

The figures show that the wealth in the Northwest has grown by more than a third in the past 12 months.

Read more here

Wrapping up their U.S. tour and preparing for a string of dates abroad, Coldplay frontman Chris Martin and guitarist Jonny Buckland dropped by the Rolling Stone office in New York to field a barrage of random questions from the staff.

Martin, ready for whatever we threw his way, went on about everything from his childhood taste for Phil Collins (his first album was But Seriously) to riding in Wayne Coyne's pickup when Coldplay performed in Oklahoma. "His life there is extraordinarily weird and fantastic," said Martin. "He lives next door literally to pimps."

While Coldplay now has to deal with their reputation as "biggest band in the world" -- their latest release, X&Y, has already sold more than three million copies -- Martin admitted that he still can't get over their success.

"We feel very much humbled by the fact that we can even play [in America], and we're happier that we got bigger and bigger," he said. "But we still feel like one of those fish that swim beside a whale and just get flicked off." A serious Michael Jackson fan, the singer added, "We haven't done anything better than 'Don't Stop 'Till You Get Enough.'"

Download the interview here and discuss this story here

Coldplay headed the list of nominations on Monday for the respected Ivor Novello music awards after being selected in three categories.

Soldier-turned-singer James Blunt also featured highly after being shortlisted for two awards, which honour the best British songwriters and composers. For best song, Coldplay's "Fix You" goes up against "Suddenly I see" by Scottish singer KT Tunstall and "I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor" by Sheffield rockers the Arctic Monkeys, who stormed to prominence earlier this year.

"Speed of Sound", which won Coldplay a best single at February's Brit awards, is nominated in both the most performed work and international hit of the year categories, with Blunt's "You're Beautiful" also nominated for both gongs. The Gorillaz, Kaiser Chiefs and Athlete were nominated for best contemporary song, while Robbie Williams (international hit of the year) and Natalie Imbruglia (most performed work) were also shortlisted.

David Ferguson, head of the British Academy of Composers and Songwriters, said it was important to acknowledge performers' talents when more music was being stolen and becoming "increasingly ubiquitous in modern life. It is critical to honour and reward the people who write and initiate the music we all enjoy," he said.

The winners of the 51st Ivor Novello awards will be announced at a ceremony in London on May 25.

More on this here

New father and Coldplay frontman Chris Martin will be back at the studio to record the band's fourth album by the end of this year, according to bandmates.

Chris announced plans to take time out at the February Brit Awards, but has reassured bandmates he will be back to work sooner than expected, despite the birth of his second child Moses earlier this month.

Bassist Guy Berryman [pictured] said, "We hope to have something together by January. "We're going to make sure with our new album that everyone remembers why Coldplay are one of the best bands in the world."

More on this here [thanks Ondes Martenot]

Helena Christensen showed off her new boyfriend at a private London bash last night.

The supermodel [pictured] is dating fellow Rasmus Walther-Hansen - lead singer of band Grand Avenue from her home country of Denmark. And the Sun Online was there to witness how Helena has now found love for the first time after splitting from Norman Reedus, the father of her six-year-old son Mingus.

The Danish beauty threw a party at the capital’s Paper club at its Daxstar night last night. Wearing a see-through black top and floor-skimming skirt, sexy Helena threw a VIP dinner party for pals including Coldplay, Kate Moss’s ex Jefferson Hack and designer Alexander McQueen.Then her fella’s band took to the stage and performed to an audience packed full of fashionistas. Guests included designer Matthew Williamson, model Erin O’Connor and Jade Jagger’s ex Dan MacMillan. But Helena only had eyes for Rasmus, who she has been seeing for some months.

Looking far younger than her 37 years, Helena emitted all the signs of a teenager in love. A party guest revealed: “She was clapping and singing as the band performed. Then Helena spent the night walking around the club chatting to guests - all the time hand in hand with her man. She kept giving him adoring glances and they had the odd smooch every now and again. She looked smitten.”

Source: thesun.co.uk

They were last on our screens months, even years ago but that hasn't quashed the heady ambitions of some former Big Brother stars. If their boasts are to be believed soon you could see Science - the outspoken Leeds rapper - on tour with Madonna, or even Michelle Bass - of Chicken Stu fame - travelling space and time with David Tennant.

The Big Brother bunch were out in force last night for Kinga ‘spin the bottle’ Karolczak’s 21st at London’s Eve club.

And while raising a toast to the bawdy birthday girl, many were keen to tell all about their careers since leaving the Big Brother house.She got it on with Stu the student and was labelled a bunny boiler because of it.

And now she plans to get her claws into Doctor Who. She said: "I’m trying to concentrate on my acting. I’m filming a sci-fi flick this summer called Mind Flesh. I play a goddess whose flesh is hanging off. I’m the only name in it but it’s a start. I would so love to do what Billie Piper is doing though. I’d like to play that role. I loved Doctor Who when it was Christopher Eccleston but I really like the new actor. That’s something to aim for."

Science [pictured] caused waves in last year’s reality show with his constant feuds with other housemates. But now he’s turned to his first love – music. And he claims he has already penned tracks for Madonna and Coldplay.

"I’ve got a song coming out in August called Power To The People by me, Citizen Science," he revealed. "After that I’m doing a house album called Expect The Unexpected because no one expects Science to do a house record."

He continued: "I’ve also written a track that would be perfect for Madonna. I think what she’s done with her dance stuff is amazing. I’d love to go on tour with her."

And Madge isn’t the only one to get an A+ from Science. He said: "I’ve also got a track I’ve done with Coldplay in mind. I’m going to send it to them."

Science left with this thought: "I’m all about playing live music to live people. And if they’re not live, well, my music will even wake the dead."

Tory boy Derek Laud also turned up to wish Kinga many happy returns. But there was no word on whether he's planning on becoming PM.

More on this here [thanks mimixxx]

After Coldplay's sound check in Oklahoma City, frontman Chris Martin and guitarist Johnny Buckland jumped into the green Ford F-150 owned by hometown hero Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips, report our friends at The Smoking Section. "They just got in the back of the truck," Coyne tells the Smoking Section. "I really didn't know what they wanted to see.

"So Coyne took them on the grand tour, hitting the Long John Silver's where he worked for eleven years, the Blue Note (site of the Lips' first gig), his mom's house, and introducing C'play to a local trannie crack whore. "She-he is about six feet four and talks like a man," says Coyne. "He reminds me of Miss Jay on America's Next Top Model." Says Martin, "We could suddenly understand why the Lips sound the way they do. Life there is extraordinarily weird and fantastic."

That night, in front of 20,000 fans, Martin repeatedly made shout-outs to Coyne, likening him to greats such as Cash, Presley and Guthrie. "Those guys are just naturally sweet," Coyne says of Coldplay, adding that the Lips are looking forward to gigs this summer with Sonic Youth and opening back-to-back European dates for the Who and Bob Dylan. (Imagine Dylan walking by the Lips' animal costumes backstage.) Coyne is psyched to hang out with Pete Townshend and wants to ask Bob if it "freaked him out when that Soy Bomb guy was dancin' up to him." Why are we telling you all this? Because we're obsessed with the Lips' At War With the Mystics -- if you don't have it, go buy the shit!

PHILADELPHIA - Fans sat elbow to elbow in the packed Wachovia Center on April 4 waiting eagerly for Coldplay to take the stage. A mixed crowd-teenagers and adults alike-came to wish the band a memorable farewell on the last stop of their 2006 U.S. tour.

Sweaty palmed and ready to stand and cheer, I anxiously awaited the British quartet. The lights were dimmed for close to ten minutes while stage workers set and checked every guitar, microphone and especially lead vocalist Chris Martin's piano.

As the stage lights sparked on, drummer Will Champion, bassist Guy Berryman and lead guitarist Johnny Buckland entered from upstage. Seconds later, Martin, as if propelled from a canon, leaped from the cover of backstage and landed in the center of a single spotlight.

Read the full review here

The world's best-selling album of 2005 - Coldplay's eight-million seller X&Y - and the emergence of solo artists KT Tunstall and Corinne Bailey Rae saw EMI outperform the global music market last year. It is likely to post profits of £159m for the year to end-March.

The music giant said ahead of annual results next month that a sluggish industry meant revenues grew just 4% in the year to more than £2bn but profits have risen 12% under chief executive Eric Nicoli's cost-cutting regime.

Revenues from the digital music market-doubled to £110m, accounting for more than 5% of EMI's sales last year, as computer downloads and iPod use increased.

Nicoli recently said the advent of the digital music age was 'the most important moment in the entire history of the music industry - the opportunity is unimaginably large'.

EMI, a much-touted merger partner for Warner Music, said it will cut another £30m of annualised costs this year through a shake-up of its Japanese operations.

Source: thisismoney.co.uk

The Top 20 Concert Tours ranks artists by average box office gross per city and includes the average ticket price for shows in North America. The previous week's ranking is in parentheses. The list is based on data provided to the trade publication Pollstar by concert promoters and venue managers.

1. (1) Cirque De Soleil - Delirium; $1,513,960; $95.53.

2. (2) Bon Jovi; $1,256,376; $76.96.

3. (3) Aerosmith; $1,115,393; $91.34.

4. (4) Coldplay; $921,682; $59.34.

5. (5) George Strait; $834,282; $57.68.

Read the rest of the chart here [thanks Ondes Martenot]

More pictures of Moses Martin have been posted. Click here to view them.

[Thanks dajrekshn]

EMI Group , the world's third-largest record company, said on Thursday it expected annual profit to rise by around 12 percent after digital music sales soared.

The company, home to artists such as Coldplay and The Rolling Stones, said it had also identified an additional 30 million pounds of annual cost savings.

"Overall, the group expects to report full year revenue growth of close to 4 percent, with digital revenues more than doubling to over 110 million pounds," it said in a statement.

"Group profit before tax, amortisation and exceptional items is expected to have increased by approximately 12 percent."The company said its EMI Music unit expected to show revenues up 2 percent for the year on a constant currency basis, with second half sales seen marginally ahead of the previous year's level.

It said digital music revenues continued to show rapid growth, increasing by more than 150 percent at constant currency and accounted for over 5.5 percent of the unit's sales for the year.

"This strong divisional performance reflects successful releases from a broad range of artists including international superstars Coldplay, Gorillaz, Robbie Williams and The Rolling Stones ... and breaking artists KT Tunstall, Dem Franchize Boyz and Corinne Bailey Rae," EMI said.

The company said that from the 30 million pounds of annual cost savings it had targeted, it expected that not less than 10 million pounds would be delivered in the financial year to the end of March 2007, with the full rate seen achieved by the close of the following year.

EMI Music Publishing was expected to show 2.5 revenue growth on a constant currency basis.

It said digital revenues from the unit, including ringtones and online services, also grew strongly.

© Reuters 2006. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.

Source:

Embrace frontman Danny McNamara is planning to buy a house in Edinburgh.

The singer revealed his plans to fans during the band's recent gig at the Corn Exchange. Embrace have frequently claimed that Scotland is their favourite place to play. In between songs at the Corn Exchange on Friday, Danny said: "We love it here. Our gigs are sold out, our records go to number one. In fact, next year I'm going to buy a house here in Edinburgh."

Embrace are enjoying the finest period of their career. Gravity, a song by Coldplay's Chris Martin, scored the band their first number one and they were recently chosen to record this summer's England World Cup song.

Source: http://news.scotsman.com

Bono shaking hands with Tony Blair.

For me it was one of the most memorable images of last year, appearing on the cover of Phoenix magazine during the G8 protests of 2005. Watching MTV's Cribs today brought the idea home with even greater force than ever before.

These days, Intellectual Property Capitalists like Bono, Chris Martin of Coldplay and Thom Yorke of Radiohead are among the wealthiest and most visible of todays ruling class.The cult of celebrity has become inescapable with the explosion of mass media forms in the late 20th Century, to the extent that musicians like Bono and Bob Geldof can use their fame to get the ear of political figures like Tony Blair. The media image that is portrayed is usually that of the musician with a “social conscience” bravely confronting the “immoral” politician and challenging them on the inequitable and exploitable policies of their government.

Unfortunately, it is exactly that, an “image”. There is no class struggle between these two men and Bono, Chris and Thom are far from being the “voice of the people”. Good musicians and songwriters they may be, but the fact of the matter is that their vast wealth is made on the backs of working people through exploitative royalty payments charged whenever one of their albums are sold. They are in fact the wealthiest capitalists of our age, whose interests are the same as those of other members of the ruling class, like George Bush, Tony O'Reilly and Michael O'Leary.

However, the sharing possibilities opened up by the Internet have quickly revealed the iron fist behind the velvet glove. In the last couple of years, copyright enforcement organisations like the RIAA in the U.S. and the IMRO in Ireland have begun suing those who attempt to share music over the internet. These organisations are the “big stick” that ensure profits keep rolling in for record companies and artists like Bono while ensuring that the culture of openness and sharing that threatens it is crushed. Make no mistake, these organisations carry the might of state behind them when they file their lawsuits, and as usual in a capitalist society, defense of property comes before anything else.

The most ridiculous case that I can recall was when the RIAA sued a 9-year old girl and sent her a threatening “cease and desist” letter which quite rightly outraged her parents. In the face of the enormous negative publicity over this, the RIAA did eventually back down but this clearly shows how absolutely ruthless these people will be in punishing those who share.

Even bands that were once proud to say they were “underground” and “anti-establishment” have turned around on their fans and accused people of “stealing” their music. Metallica are the most disgusting example of this. Tape-Trading was a crucial element of the underground rock music scene from which Metallica rose in the early 80's. Without tape-trading, Metallica would likely never have gained the widespread recognition that eventually broke them on a worldwide scale.

Nowadays, Metallica have sold over 10 million copies of the Black Album and are millionares.

They would certainly claim that they have never lost touch with their roots, but the reality is that they are now rich Property Capitalists whose interests are those of the ruling class. Lars Ulrich's ridiculous outbursts only confirm that they have long since discarded their “rebel” image. His petulance at people “stealing” his royalties on the internet, despite his own enormous wealth shows how completely out of touch he is with the common workers daily struggle to make ends meet.

The anarcho-punks may be looking smug at this point as they shuffle along to buy their Crass albums from small independent retailers, believing themselves safe in the knowledge that they are not supporting such an inequitable and exploitative business.

Buying from independents is all well and good – certainly adding to the profits of enormous record companies like EMI or Colombia is not something any anarchist would advocate.

As revolutionary class-struggle anarchists however, we need to be much more ambitious. Even when you buy from a small independent retailer, you pay royalties to the artist and the record company skims a good portion off the top for its own profits. For anarchists, just as there is no “acceptable level” of wage-slavery, there is no “acceptable level” of profiteering from Intellectual Property. Royalties from the sale of books, music, software and other products are a rental charge that can only be imposed because the sharing and copying of such things is openly punished by the state. Renting a physical property is opposed by all anarchists for obvious reasons, and renting intellectual property should be opposed just as strongly.

Liberal critics of intellectual property like Lawrence Lessig have, in books like “Free Culture” criticised the way the current IP system works (or rather doesn't work) on the internet but have proposed a solution that would involve guaranteeing the right to share certain uncopyrighted works, but creating a new “tax” that, depending on estimates of how damaging sharing is to the industry, attempts to compensate record companies/publishers and other who sell copyrighted works for their losses.

Even if this idea was workable, there is vanishingly little to recommend it. Our goal should be to remove the ability of these companies, artists and organisations to make profits from consumers of their products. The end of this exploitation will result in a loss of profits :- this is the intended effect so why would we want to “compensate” for it? If someone was robbing your house every year for 20 years and finally was caught, would you propose to then pay him something every year to compensate for his losses? The idea is ridiculous of course. Thieves should not be compensated when they stop stealing.

Worse still, this “solution” proposes a new tax to “compensate” the industries affected! All this amounts to is saying “Well, if we cant steal the money from the workers as they buy the product in a store, we'll just steal it directly out of their wage packets”.

There is an alternative of course :- we could work at creating a system that rewards artists equitably for their efforts in creating a work, be it a book, a piece of software or a symphony. It is an oft-repeated aphorism that many great artists are not appreciated during their lifetime. Once radical and underground artists like Salvador Dali or Van Gogh, who were unpopular in their lifetimes have gained enormous celebrity in our time and the perceived value of their work has shot up. In a market economy this perceived value has real-world monetary effects :- many artists who could not even find a publisher for their work in their own lifetime and died penniless have had original editions of their works sold at auctions today for ridiculous prices (for Von Gogh, these can often reach into the millions).

This begs the question of how we can fairly compensate artists for their work in their own lifetimes. Obviously a market economy does a very poor job of judging the worth of an artists output - although later generations may rectify this, the artist might also languish in poverty and perpetual obscurity. The most honest response to this problem is that we simply cannot measure the value of an artists output. The best solution as I see it therefore is to reward the artist based purely on their effort and the sacrifices they make to produce their work.

The latest issue of Newsweek contains several interesting articles on how the open-source software movement is affecting the business strategies of corporations like IBM who currently file more than 3,000 patents a year! IBM CEO Palmisano comments “Open source is a method of tapping a community of experts to develop useful things. It began in software , but applies broadly, and is anything but anti-capitalist. It can raise quality at reduced costs, and vastly expands opportunities for profit.” IBM is the leading business investor in the open source movement and their investment of billions in Linux was instrumental in making that operating system a serious competitor to Windows. Companies like IBM and SUN have been much quicker to recognise the power of the open-source model and to immediately reshape their business model around it.

However, despite what Sam Palmisano says about open-source software not being anti-capitalist, he has has been forced to re-orient his business towards making profits from delivering customised services and support rather than software. What seems to be happening here is that open source software has been such a successful model that it has begun to close off some avenues of profit (through software copyrights and patents) that companies like Microsoft are almost entirely dependent on. Sam Palmisano has simply been more perceptive than Microsoft in seeing how strong open-source is as a model, and made a decision to give up on that profit avenue to pursue other, more lucrative directions like support and services. The success of open-source has made at least some property-based commodity's available to the commons and withdrawn them from the capitalist marketplace and the profit-making arena. If thats not anti-capitalist, I'm nor sure what is!

Open-Source may not be a revolutionary approach that has any likelihood of overthrowing the entire IT Industry but is a worthwhile endeavor that shows anarchist values are still alive and kicking even in an Industry that seems to revolve around copyrights and patents.

The issue of Intellectual Property on the internet is one that is not going to disappear anytime soon. The very nature of the internet, with its open architecture and environment that encourages the natural sharing of information represents a threat to the digital landlords who wish to rule this domain. It is my belief that we cannot ultimately win this battle in the digital domain unless we simultaneously fight to overthrow the legitimacy of real-world property.

Source: anarkismo.net