Make no mistake about it, I am a huge fan of Lily Allen. My friend Andreas brought it to my attention that the quirky British songstress has been getting herself into quite a bit of Twouble (translation: trouble on Twitter) of late with her rants on the dangers of music piracy. It was rebutted however, that Allen had previously on her own personal blog, infringed on the copyright of others' intellectual property also in posting scanned articles. She had also uploaded personal mixtapes containing tracks which she does not own copyright to. This has resulted in a bit of embarrassment on her part, resulting in her having to shut down the forum.I have a confession. I discovered Allen's music through what is deemed as "illegal downloading". The fact of the matter is that Canadian radio and television doesn't always support import acts and we often have to resort to the Internet for new music discoveries. In fact, the first track I downloaded of Allen's was Smile via a peer-to-peer utility. I loved it and since then I have done write-ups on her, gone to her concert and bought both her albums.
"Illegal downloading" in my opinion is not altogether evil. Artists are well aware of the realities of selling music in this day and age; the actual music itself is only a component of the big picture. Fan merchandise and concert ticket sales are far more lucrative in terms of turning a profit, but of course, this goes hand-in-hand with making quality music. Paradigms are changing and perhaps we need to widen our perspective a bit. It is the challenge of the record labels to devise a way to bridge the gap between the point the consumer obtains the "illegal download" and enticing consumers enough to put forth the money to legally purchase the music.
In other news, one of my favourite actresses Meryl Streep will be making an appearance at Toronto's famed Royal Ontario Museum on October 7, 2009. One dilemma though - the event sold out quickly. She will be participating in a Q&A as part of the museum's upcoming series focusing on the topic of Celebrity. Beginning September 26, 2009 the museum will be hosting an exhibit of Vanity Fair's most memorable portraits including work by photographers Herb Ritts and now financially-troubled Annie Leibovitz. Icons featured include the likes of Madonna, Demi Moore, Jean Harlow, Katharine Hepburn and more. I'm so there.
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