Paul McCartney and Other '60s Legends' Views on Music Piracy

Piracy has a major effect on the music industry over the last two decades, but artists are divided on whether that effect has been positive or negative. Some artists claim that piracy allows small, independent musicians to thrive, as they can find new ways to get their music to fans. Others claim that it's tantamount to theft.

Every major musician has been asked for his or her opinion on piracy. Here's a look at how Paul McCartney, Keith Richards and other rock and roll veterans have dealt with the challenge--and threat--of file sharing.

Paul McCartney - Although the Beatles originally insisted that he didn't care about music piracy, he reversed course in 2009.

" "If you get on a bus you've got to pay," McCartney said, "And I think it's fair, you should pay your ticket. The problem is you get a lot of young bands coming up and some of them aren't going to last forever, so if they have a massive hit that's going to pay their mortgage forever, they're going to feed the children on that and if they don't get that money, if they don't see that money, I think it's a bit of a pity."

In 2011, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr allowed a few Beatles songs to be used in the Music Matters campaign, which publishes ads that oppose music piracy.

Keith Richards - As the most rugged of The Rolling Stones, Keith Richards has adopted a laissez-faire attitute.

"When anything new comes up, it won't be long before pirates are involved," he said in 2008.

"I've always felt that if it was worth pirating, then it must be worth something. I really don't feel begrudging about it. It's more important to me that people want that, and even if we don't get paid for it, that doesn't mean that much to me."


Peter Townshend - The Who's legendary guitarist has had some choice words for music pirates in recent years.

" The word 'sharing' surely means giving away something you have earned, or made, or paid for?," Townshend quipped in an interview with BBC Music 6. "[People who share music files] might as well come and steal my son's bike while they're at it."

Although Townshend has no love for pirates, he did note that his perspective was skewed. " It's tricky to argue for the innate value of copyright from a position of good fortune, as I do," Townshend said. "I've done all right."

David Bowie - Bowie might be the most perceptive artist on this list, as he offer a surprisingly accurate take on file sharing back in 2002.

"I don't even know why I would want to be on a label in a few years because I don't think it's going to work by labels and by distribution systems in the same way," Bowie said. "The absolute transformation of everything that we ever thought about music will take place within 10 years, and nothing is going to be able to stop it. I'm fully confident that copyright, for instance, will no longer exist in 10 years, and authorship and intellectual property is in for such a bashing."

Maybe Bowie's analysis is the most spot-on--piracy isn't necessarily good or bad, but unless something changes, it won't end anytime soon.

What do you think of music piracy? Post below.

Sources:

"McCartney Backtracks On Internet Piracy," ContactMusic.
"The Beatles - Why Music Matters," YouTube.com.
Naughton, John. "David Bowie and the Grateful Dead: the web's real visionaries," The Guardian.
"Living Legends - Keith Richards: Piracy," YouTube.

"Pete Townshend calls Apple 'a vampire,'" BBC.