Since my last post, I've discovered that British pop tart Lily Allen, who recently declared war against file sharers, calling them crooks and pirates, is herself a plagiarist! Not only did she do some unauthorized mixtapes a few years ago (which she's trying to weasel out from under), her anti-file-sharing blog itself swipes from several newspapers!
When Metallica, partly under the influence of Ayn Rand, denounced Napster and helped destroy it, some wag put their integrity up for sale on eBay. And, like I said last time, Metallica are themselves a corporation as well as a rock band. It seems Miss Allen has already sold her integrity, and of course she sold it to EMI. (Cue the Sex Pistols song now!)
One thing I forgot to mention last time, when I called her a corporate tool, is that she owns none of her music. It's all EMI's property. You see, ever since the days of Tin Pan Alley a century ago, the record companies have been the sole proprietors of recorded music. That's why Metallica had to become a corporation. If you don't own your music but rage against "piracy", you've got to be raging on the company's behalf, as the company's shill. That's why I lost all my respect for Metallica and Garth Brooks a decade ago in the first place.
She can denounce Radiohead and Pink Floyd for music piracy (i.e., stealing from the corporate overlords who actually own the music) all she wants. She can denounce me as much as she wants, for that matter. But a crusader against file sharing (as "music piracy") who herself is a plagiarist? If even Perez Hilton calls her out, I'd say Lily Allen's got herself a major integrity problem!
