Billy Bragg Causes Social Change
Speaking of MySpace, modern folk hero Billy Bragg has managed to get the social networking site to change their terms and conditions for artists who upload their music.
Billy withdrew his free music downloads in protest at the small print giving far too much control to MySpace over any music uploaded to the site. With this change Bragg has now reinstated his tracks on MySpace (where you can also watch a few videos):
Now that the popularity of downloading has made physical manufacturing and distribution no longer necessary, the next generation of artists will not need to surrender all of their rights in order to get their music into the marketplace. It is therefore crucial that they understand, from the moment that they first post music on the internet, the importance of retaining their long term right to exploit the material that they create. This is doubly important on a networking site where many of the songs posted will be by unsigned artists. Ownership of the rights to such material is somewhat ambiguous. That’s why I hope that the groundbreaking decision of MySpace to come down on the side of the artist’s rights will be followed throughout the industry.I also welcome the new wording of the terms and conditions in which MySpace clarify exactly why they require specific rights and how they intend to use them
Why Irish performers don’t commonly cover Billy’s songs I don’t know. Very English he may be, but so is Ralph McTell. And the greatest London songs around are written by a man called Shane MacGowan.
See Also:
• Christy Moore & Shane MacGowan
• The 27th Greatest Song Never To Reach Number One
• Christy Moore Chats on Songs, Divas and Sport
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