U2 manager lashes out at ISPs again

June 04, 2008 U2 manager Paul McGuinness has delivered another hard-hitting speech in which he said that by refusing to join forces with the legitimate music business, Internet service providers are clinging to the past and preventing the music industry's future growth. In his keynote presentation at the Music Matters conference in Hong Kong on June 4, McGuinness said he wants to see "a real commercial partnership" between ISPs and the music business in which they fairly share their revenues, as well as "action to stop mass copyright theft." McGuinness had used his keynote speech at MIDEM in January to accuse ISPs of "destroying the recorded music industry" by failing to tackle piracy, and he returned to this theme in Hong Kong -- although he welcomed some initiatives by European governments.

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