Gang Of Four bassist Dave Allen, who this week announced his departure from the band, has revealed that he received a cease-and-desist letter from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry after he posted an unauthorised Portishead track on his blog, http://www.pamplemoose.com. Speaking at the MusicTech Summit in San Francisco yesterday, he said: "Talk about your irony of ironies. But I understood completely. I was wrong. I removed the music".
He added that he had thought that the person who had sent him the unreleased Portishead track had permission to do so. So, he was surprised when the "polite letter" from the IFPI turned up. "I sent a message back apologising," he said. "What I learned from this is that I have to double my efforts to find out where files come from. I was chilled. They are much bigger than me and could shut me down".
He also added that he has changed his views on giving music away for free: "I don't want to take money away from artists. They deserve to get paid. We need some laws to protect musicians. Some copyright law is useful as long as it's not heavy-handed law. We have to find cool ways to allow fans to take their music where they want, make it available to them and at the same time protect the artist".