Biz (2586)

Band puts success down to piracy

Fleet Foxes call worrying over P2P "petty"

Image Credit: Danishdrummer on Wikipedia

17 June 2009 10:50 GMT / By Duncan Geere

One of the most buzzy new bands of 2008, Fleet Foxes, have come out wholly in favour of music fans downloading their records for free. The band sold over 200,000 copies of its debut record, despite it being widely available on filesharing networks.

Singer Robin Pecknold told the BBC: "I think we're seeing that now with tons of new bands that are amazing, and are doing way better music now than was being made pre-Napster".

"I've downloaded hundreds and hundreds of records - why would I care if somebody downloads ours? That's such a petty thing to care about. I mean, how much money does one person need? I think it's disgusting when people complain about that, personally".

The quote comes shortly after the publishing of the Government's Digital Britain report, where it's stated that the government wants to legislate ISPs into warning customers who infringe copyright. The aim being to cut piracy rates by 70% within a year.

Fleet Foxes' position is a powerful reminder however, that not all in the music industry agree with the position of the major labels in opposing all forms of piracy.