Afternoon:
12°c
An awesome and ridiculous film that leaves you thrilled beyond the point of your natural endurance
London faces a wave of bus and Tube strikes that could cause chaos for millions of passengers as unions walkout over pay and conditions
More...
Lily Allen rallies stars to fight against online piracy
Last updated at 14:30pm on 21.09.09Lily Allen has stepped up her war against online piracy by rallying fellow stars such as Gary Barlow and James Blunt to campaign for artists' rights.
The singer has now set up a blog in which she is posting messages from prominent supporters of her cause.
Big break: Lily Allen found fame by posting her music on MySpace
It follows last week's outburst against file-sharing which she said was a "disaster" for emerging artists "as it's making it harder and harder for new acts to emerge".
She is now calling for a summit to be attended by artists, record companies, internet service providers and the Government to discuss the future.
Allen, who found an early springboard to fame through online music fans when she posted her music on MySpace, has now set up a new site idontwanttochangetheworld.blogspot.com in which she has posted messages from her supporters.
They include Blunt, who has today written a letter to The Times newspaper backing Business Secretary Lord Mandelson's proposal to disconnect persistent offenders.
He wrote: "The world over, people are stealing music in its millions in the form of illegal file-sharing. It's easy to do and has become accepted by many, but we need people to know that it is destroying people's livelihoods and suffocating emerging new British artists."
Others to back Allen include Take That star Barlow, who said he agreed with all her sentiments. "I spend so much of my spare time helping up and coming artists find their way so am fully aware of all the issues," he added.
Spandau Ballet's Gary Kemp said he supported her, and Bat For Lashes star Natasha Khan said: "File-sharing is a huge and complicated problem for emerging artists, myself included, and for the future of music."
Allen's rallying cry was a response to comments by members of the Featured Artists Coalition (FAC), which includes musicians from bands such as Radiohead and Pink Floyd, who called for "more creative ways" to combat file-sharing than disconnecting music fans from the internet.
