Featured Artists Coalition: tuning in to a2f2a
p2pnet news view | P2P | Music:- a2f2a, the net’s first artist-to-fan-to-artist site, went online yesterday. Its first post, Bringing artsts and fans together, generated 23 comments, most of them on target (and none of them vitriolic 
) by 8:50 am Pacific.
Today, the big news is: members of the Featured Artists Coalition are to be officially invited to join a2f2a discussions.
Yesterday afternoon the group, founded earlier this year, held their board meeting in London.
One of the FAC’s directors is artist and activist Billy Bragg. Together with p2pnet’s Jon Newton, he founded a2f2a and at the meeting, layed out the new site’s mission to others on the FAC board.
They include Dave Rowntree of Blur, Nick Mason of Pink Floyd, Ed O’Brien of Radiohead, Kate Nash, Hal Ritson of The Young Punx, Howard Jones, Mark Kelly of Marillion, Sandie Shaw, Master Shortie, Lucy Pullin of The Fire Escapes, Ross Millard of The Futureheads, Fran Healy of Travis, and Annie Lennox.
Members include Tom Jones, Robbie Williams, Little Boots, Badly Drawn Boy, Sia, The Boxer Rebellion, Kevin Hewick, among many others.
Billy will now be circulating an invitation to all members to take part in the debate.
Bridging the gulf of misunderstanding
One of the first people to respond to the news of a2f2a’s arrival online was Glyn Moody, the well-known technology writer and author of Rebel Code: Linux and the Open Source Revolution.
“One of the sad things about the current mess in the music industry is that artists are too often pitted against fans, when in fact both want the same thing,” he wrote on his blog, Open, continuing, “good music in a convenient format at a fair price. Here’s a welcome initiative that’s trying to bridge that gulf of misunderstanding: Artists need to be paid, and fans want to pay them.”
He went on to cite a2f2a’s goals, to »»»
Help each community better understand the other;
Help find a practical and workable system which offers artists fair remuneration in exchange for access to material by fans; and
Help set the agenda for discussions about the role P2P can play within the emergent digital record industry.
Together, we can do it – artist to fan to artist.
“What I particularly like about this — aside from the dialogue — is that it starts from the premise that people *do* want to pay for stuff.,” says Moody, adding:
“I think that’s absolutely central: most people realise that artists need to be supported, and that if everyone pays, the overall price will be lower.
“But the music industry likes to portray the public as split in two: those who don’t want to pay anything, ever, and those who will meekly pay whatever exorbitant price the labels demand.
“It ain’t that Manichean, and if a2f2a can help to dispel that myth, that’s got to be good news.”
Stay tuned.
Jon Newton – a2f2a / p2pnet
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi
Open – Artists to Fans to Artists: Positive Feedback, October 22, 2009
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