Bono's new cause - stop illegal downloading

David Swan
Monday, 04 January 2010 04:02

Your IT - Home IT

He's campaigned against AIDS, racism, and world poverty. Now U2's Bono has a new target in his sights: music downloading.

The dynamic frontman started his New York Times column about a year ago, and he says downloading is becoming all-encompassing, and will soon ruin the entertainment industry as a whole.

"The only thing protecting the movie and TV industries from the fate that has befallen music and indeed the newspaper business is the size of the files," he wrote.

Although Bono is far from poor, he obviously sympathizes with young recording artists trying to make a living in an age when the actual value of a song is questionable. Many artists have struggled with music piracy, with some releasing their album for free to combat illegal downloads, or releasing their albums in special boxes with items that can't be downloaded. Others, including the Red Hot Chili Peppers and 50 Cent, have expressed their anger at the hoardes of people not paying for music, or listening to leaked copies before their release.

Bono continued, "A decade's worth of music file-sharing and swiping has made clear that the people it hurts are the creators — in this case, the young, fledgling songwriters who can't live off ticket and T-shirt sales like the least sympathetic among us." Bono also contends that "rich service providers" are reaping "the lost receipts of the music business."

"Perhaps movie moguls will succeed where musicians and their moguls have failed so far, and rally America to defend the most creative economy in the world, where music, film, TV and video games help to account for nearly four per cent of gross domestic product," he concludes.