Music Industry Embarrassed

The recording industry’s branch organization makes excuses after involving a pro-file sharing Swedish rap artist in their battle against Pirate Bay without having his consent

Svenska Dagbladet (SvD) newspaper published a commentary of Swedish rapper Max Peezay which isn’t exactly what record industry would have artists say on this subject- “File sharing for private use without a profit motive is totally OK in my eyes. It’s not theft, it’s simply taking a copy of a product and spreading it around.”[…]“I don’t want to be a part of putting anyone in prison.”

Tom Piha, or Max Peezay as his stage name recommends him, said that his revenues come mostly from concerts, and not album sales. Further more, he believes that the money lost because his records are downloaded instead of being bought is more than gained back by profits made with additional live shows which wouldn’t have been possible without the new fans who have come across his music through file-sharing..

Without his knowledge Piha’s album Discokommittén was included by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (Ifpi) among the 25 albums selected randomly by prosecutors to support their lawsuit against the founders of The Pirate Bay.

Allegedly, the record companies demand 15 million kronor ($2.5 million) being paid in compensatory damages by the administrators of the popular site.

According to The Local, Ifpi rushed into assuming that distributor Bonnier Amigo owns the rights to the album and didn’t stop to check with Piha (who is actually the owner ) about the matter or about him wanting to be involved in the case.

The head of Ifpi’s branch in Sweden, Lars Gustafsson, disapproved of Piha’s irresponsible act which caused apart from money losses, quite an image downfall for the record companies. However, he was not the only one to condemn the artist’s behaviour – fellow artists and fans alike scowled at the act.

Piha couldn’t be further from wanting his part in this war -“I wish I hadn’t landed in this situation. I can see now how easy it is to become a pawn in this game,” he said in the interview -“I don’t care what happens to Pirate Bay. But if they disappear, someone else will take their place and I don’t want to see the war escalate. I want to see a dialogue.”

So far no trial date for the case has been set.