Alun Parry Singer Songwriter: October 2007

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Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Aaaaaaaaghhhh! We're Doomed!!

Aaaaaaaaghhhhhh! Help! Help! What are we going to do?!!!!

We're doomed!!! Doomed I tell you!!! Well, he tells you. He being David Cameron, the snotfaced public schoolboy who is the current leader of the Conservative Party.

He wants to reassure the Daily Mail and Express that he'll be as much of a shitbag when it comes to immigration as Blair and Brown have been. Just in case that much wasn't obvious.

And what better way to begin than to scream blind panic about the numbers of immigrants coming into the country. 200,000 more people come into Britain than people who leave, he tells us.

I can almost see Helen Lovejoy, the gossipy vicar's wife from The Simpsons, running across my TV screen wailing "Won't somebody PLEASE think of the children."

But let me be the first to say this: what a load of sinister old "so what" bollocks. So in a country of 60 million people, I'm expected to panic because there's 200,000 more people than there was last year?? What's to worry about?

Let's put the numbers into a perspective that's easier to get your head round. Lets say you're in a group of 600 people. Now imagine that 2 people turn up. Are you even the slightest bit bothered? Are you suddenly reaching for those tins of food that you'd originally gathered for the post nuclear winter in desperation? Or do you not even notice?

You see, to scale, that's all that's happened. Those 200,000 people added to a population of 60 million, is the same as 2 extra people joining a population of 600.

Who'd even care? Especially when the 2 people are more than happy to pitch in and help out the community they'd joined.

Surely only a berk of unimaginable proportions (imagine Blair, Brown, Cameron melted together into a three headed orgy of hysteria) would possibly panic at that?

In which case I daren't show them this other bit of news.

I can exclusively reveal that on top of that, there are another nearly 75,000 thousand more people in the country than the year before - and all without a flinch from the complacent authorities! Even though they're well aware that it's going on. And that it's been going on for decades!!

Not a single one of these people will be employed. Instead, every single one of them will be paid for by the state. Yes that's YOUR taxes!! And every single one of them not just incapable of working but utterly, totally, pants wettingly dependent.

It's been this way for years!! In the 60's this was happening to the tune of 400,000 a year. Isn't it time something was done about it!!!!

Are you outraged? Are you shocked? Are you donning a tin hat, and banging a bin lid as you march up to Whitehall demanding how on Earth the government could ever let this happen. And keep letting it happen at that.

Once again I demand: "Won't somebody PLEASE think of the children."

Well actually I am. It's children I'm talking about. Births outnumber deaths by around 75,000 a year at the moment. And in the 60's they outnumbered deaths by a staggering 0.4 million.

Where was the outcry? Where was the horror? Where was the yells of "but we're full!!!"? Where were the front page headlines and snivelling statements demanding the government prevent all this from happening?

Who has been yelling "Get Tough On Childbirth - It's Got To Stop!!"

Nobody. That would be ridiculous obviously.

But no more ridiculous than this constant wailing about immigration.

4:55 PM | Permalink |

Friday, October 5, 2007

Defend Jammie Thomas!

A 30 year old single mother from America, Jammie Thomas, has been hunted down by the record industry, taken before a court, and fined £109,000 for using the file sharing program Kazaa.

So Sony BMG, Arista Records, Interscope, UMG Recordings, Capitol Records, and Warner have their sacrificial lamb to feast upon.

They have their destitute and devastated music fan whose life must now be in tatters.

They have their chief lawyer salivating at the "message" it sends, like a Roman governor contentedly surveying the aftermath of a crucifixion, with the corpse left to hang for days in order to terrify and intimidate the populace.

I'm a musician. I'm a songwriter. I have recorded material. I have albums in the High Street stores. Am I pleased at this attack on a music fan? Am I hell! I'm outraged!

I believe it's up to us who make music to make it clear where we stand, and that should be in defence of music fans from this kind of attack. We need to be making a clear stand on behalf of Jammie Thomas.

Music fans are the number one ally of the musician - not the record companies. They will be there long after the record companies have lost interest and moved on.

Music fans support us, they promote us with more enthusiasm than any salaried PR man ever could. Music fans turn up to our gigs. They mail us messages of support that pick us up when things aren't going well. They believe in us when sometimes we don't even believe in ourselves.

Music fans are who we make music for. What musician ever dreamed of making music for a corporation?

Music fans are our lifeblood. And they are our partners. An attack on them is an attack on us.

Do the dying record majors really believe that devastating the life of this woman is the future of music? Do they really believe that suing 26,000 people, as they have done over the last four years, is the way forward? Can they really think that a cyberfied police state is the way to respond to the internet revolution?

It seems so. As such, the sooner these dinosaurs disappear the better. It is hopefuly the death throes of a redundant and unpleasant beast.

It's a stark contrast to the Buskernomics approach I operate, and which was (I'm sure unwittingly) adopted this week by Radiohead. The buskernomics approach joins forces with and respects the role of the music fan. But the major record companies seek only to destroy the lives of music fans, and punish music fans for their enthusiasm.

I'm more glad than ever that I take a deliberately DIY route with my music. I wouldn't want any of these snakes to be acting in my name when financially ruining somebody who simply wanted to listen to music.

But what of the artists whose music was among the 24 songs that Jammie was punished for? Destiny's Child, Godsmack, Sara McLachlan. What say you on this matter? Are you to stay silent?

And not just them. What of the other major signed artists? Are you happy that a stadium's worth of your fans have been hunted and sued on your behalf? Speak up - for you attack your fans at your peril! Your silence only endorses these attack dogs.

Defend Jammie Thomas!! Defend music fans from the corporations!! End the legal actions now!

4:44 PM | Permalink |

Monday, October 1, 2007

Radiohead Adopt My Buskernomics Idea

So many people told me I was bonkers when I introduced Buskernomics as a way of distributing my music.

But it made sense to me. Let the people decide what to pay for my music.

So I went with it. Some people throw a whole load of money at me in payment. Others throw a little bit at me. Many just download it for free.

The point is - the listener decides.

But look at this!! Radiohead of all people have just released an album true to the Buskernomics principle. According to the morning papers, Radiohead have told their fans its up to them how much they pay for the album when buying it as a digital download.

Okay, so the minimum price is 45p (the credit card charge) whereas my minimum price is zero (come on lads, go that extra half mile!)

But its a form of Buskernomics nonetheless. Well done Radiohead for joining the revolution.

At the very least I can now tell people that where I lead, Radiohead follow!!

11:57 PM | Permalink |

Aaaaaaaaghhhh! We're Doomed!!

Defend Jammie Thomas!

Radiohead Adopt My Buskernomics Idea

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