I appeared on ABC’s Radio National’s Common Knowledge program this week talking about the concept of free music and online culture:
…There’s been an online debate burbling way… in the music scene, unleashed by 20 year-old Emily White who recently completed an internship at the American radio network, National Public Radio. She’d been working on the music show… All Songs Considered… when she published a blog post titled… “I Never Owned Any Music To Begin With.”… In it she confessed that, despite being a music lover with 11,000 songs in her digital collection, she’d only paid for 15 CDs in her lifetime. Since then, she’s felt the full fury of the debate about music piracy and become a lightning rod for the digital generational divide. Among the thousands of words that have been exchanged, was a reply from David Lowery, of the 80s band Campervan Beethoven,… taking her to task… and claiming that the livelihoods of musicians were being destroyed by a generation that want music for free.… To Emily White’s defence… came another musician, Dave Allen, former bassist for the post-punk band Gang of Four. After all was said and done the future of the music industry is as unclear as ever.