Dave Allen, bass player for Gang of Four, has a pretty good blog that tends to highlight under the radar music and trends. Today he has a post up regarding Paul McGuinness’ provocative speech about piracy and the music industry, and Allen’s brief intro is not only spot on, in my opinion, but also pretty interesting, coming as it does from the point of view a recording artist.

Paul McGuinness, the manager of U2, turned up at MIDEM in Cannes to give us all a scolding and by “all” I mean the record labels and any of you who have ever downloaded a music file. His list of core agitators, people he considers to have let the side down in the fight against “piracy”, include - all record labels, ISPs, SDMI, the US Govt, Abbi Hoffman(!), Silicon Valley hippies, Deadheads, people who listen to music through ear buds and not big speakers(!), Radiohead fans who he accuses of stealing music, the so-called counter-culture (sic), oh and a”humiliating list of miserable artists.” All this mad ranting from a man who has the balls to tell us his clients, U2, made $355 million on their Vertigo Tour….it’s hard to shed a tear for a multi-millionaire, old-school rock manager who misses the good old days of the recording business. He makes some good points but the hyperbole washes away the substance of his speech. It doesn’t help that he proposes that a tracking technology should be used to track downloads - he just happens to be an investor in the company… more

Totally unrelated:

Late last week I was wandering through Times Square after a lunch meeting, trying to hustle through the tourists and the bone chilling freezing rain, when I happily stumbled upon this:

Mr. Bono in the window of the Hard Rock Cafe. Not quite 3D, but still, looking good. He even lured me inside to buy one of his shirts.

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