You are all digital vampires

Townshend: Something about iTunes reeks

According to rock veteran Pete Townshend (yes, he's still alive), music lovers who steal music are evil, and iTunes is a "digital vampire" that profits from music without supporting the artists who create it. He made his comments while delivering the first John Peel Lecture. Read more here.

Townshend says that "iTunes should offer some of the services to artists that record labels and music publishers used to provide." It seems odd that he expects a music retailer to act like a record company. You wouldn't expect brick and mortar music stores to do that.

"Why can't music lovers just pay for music rather than steal it?" he said.

The Guardian has further coverage of Townshend's comments, including this gem... "Townshend said his "inner artist" thought [Steve] Jobs was "one of the coolest guys on the planet" but admitted he had once said in an interview that he "wanted to cut Job's balls off".

Full text of Townshend's lecture on the Guardian.

Here in New Zealand, the first infringement notices under the new Copyright Act were sent out overnight, by RIANZ (Recording Industry Association of NZ). Forty of the 50 notices were for songs by Rihanna, with the others being songs by Lady Gaga. Orcon has received 8 notices, TelstraClear has got about a dozen, and Telecom has got 40 to date. Vodafone says it has also got a few notices.