Bono Dreams of Tightly Controlled Internet Browsers

January 4, 2010 By Dena Cassella

Bono hopes that one day the digital world can exist without illegal downloading and sharing of music.

We’d announce our top ten reasons why we love U2 front-man Bono, but as he recently declared in his OP-ED column in the New York Times we have been a little “over-indulgent” with top ten lists in 2009. But, considering this didn’t stop Bono from proceeding into his own list of top ten “ideas” for the next ten years, we feel no shame sharing at least one from our Bono-loving list. Reason number one why we love Bono: the man is quite the dreamer.

This weekend Bono wrote an endearing opinion piece for the New York Times detailing his top ten ideas and hopes for the next ten years. One of Bono’s ten proclamations was that the illegal downloading of music is “out of control” and America should put forth a “noble effort” to stop it. “A decade’s worth of music file-sharing and swiping has made clear that the people it hurts are the creators — in this case, the young, fledgling songwriters who can’t live off ticket and T-shirt sales like the least sympathetic among us,” writes the Irish rocker.

Bono suggests the states should impose a solution similar to China’s so Feds can track content and then punish the music thieves (most likely high schoolers)—all this in order to protect the talents of future songbirds. We don’t want to speak for the rest of America, Bono, but we’re going to guess that solution might not fly so well here in the states.

Showing 12 comments

dang at 10:19am 5th January 2010 I don't think labels will go away, I think they will adapt. The small, independent ones already are. They'll stop relying so much on traditional methods and hopefully one day will help drive new delivery and sales methods.
DW at 10:09am 5th January 2010 I think the whole professional music world should stop producing songs in protest; just as a little preview for what this world will seem like in 10 years when no more record labels exist.
Ollie @ Industry Trust at 4:49am 5th January 2010 I agree with James and think that Bono’s point about illegal file-sharing hurting ‘creators first’ is really valid and rings true across the creative industries. I work with the Industry Trust, an organisation which addresses the issue of copyright theft for the film and television industry. Our industry employs over 150,000 people in the UK alone, from wardrobe artists and script supervisors to boom operators and sound engineers. These people rely on film and TV revenue for their wages and job security, and the nearly £500m (link to source: http://bit.ly/Ipsos_Mori_research) lost each year to copyright theft has a very real impact on them.

Thanks,

Ollie from the Trust
paul at 11:15pm 4th January 2010 Remember Bono if you build a ten foot high wall you just create a market for eleven foot high ladders.
vince at 9:45pm 4th January 2010 the technology will solve this problem , The Chinese would never have let U2 tour their land when they were coming up, now Bono advocates controls on access to music and media downloads . Where are your loyal- ties Bono? principles?
Nathan at 8:24pm 4th January 2010 The music industry need to spend less time fighting technological advances and more time trying to harness its power. Change is consistent in all areas of business and those who do not adapt simply fade away.
Mick at 6:14pm 4th January 2010 please go troll somewhere else or get educated on the subject before posting
bobosnwo at 6:11pm 4th January 2010 yes yes lets just let america run the world and have us all chipped and restrict free thought, closed browser's will never happen open source has seen to that, and china can't stop it's citizens from using the onion router and other networks either. Where's there's a will there's a way. Time to cop on and evolve
Wies at 6:07pm 4th January 2010 Who the hell does Bono think he is.Is his head so swollen he thinks he is god and can make us do his bidding,wake up Bono you are just a singer in a band GET OVER IT.
Ben at 5:44pm 4th January 2010 If you knew anything about the music industry you would realise it is only the large labels that have suffered in the last 10 years.

Before the internet the biggest song on radio or TV was the one that the label paid the most to have there. There was hardly free choice. Bands signed to labels still received very little from them regardless, bands have always made their money through live performances and merch.

Since the internet new artists have managed to spread like wildfire and the Indie label has experienced a resurgence. Victory Records has made profit every year for 15 years. The situation for most small independent labels is the same, greater content, freedom of choice and exporsure.

File sharing lets me discover new artists and make a choice on whether I support their music or not.

My band has had our 3 releases all as free download and we have given people the option to support us. We received a $500 donation for one song on Bandcamp from one fan a few weeks ago.

So James, stfu as you know nothing.
James at 5:32pm 4th January 2010 How is he a moron? Stop ripping off content and pay for it like your supposed to. These artists put their heart and soul into their music.
TA at 5:16pm 4th January 2010 what a moron...enough said