谈到音乐类型，Britney Spears, Luciano Pavarotti and Sean Combs，以及新近为人所知的P.

        Diddy,他们之前并没有多少相同的地方。但是在从今天起开播的一系列广告中，他们连同其它86位唱片艺人共同公开抗议这种未被授权就翻版并共享其音乐成果的行为，并且称这威胁了从唱片艺人到作者到音响技术人员甚至于唱片店职员的生计。

        “你会走进一家CD店去窃取一张CD吗？”在一则将于未来数周播出的广告片中，Spears这样问到。“这其实完全是相同性质的问题。那么为什么还要这样做呢？”

        在一则平面广告中，Shakira，这位擅长扭动臀部的拉丁流行歌手强烈呼吁大众立刻“对盗版说不”。美国唱片业协会动用了数百万美元来支持这场反盗版运动，在它发表的一次宣言中，Combs肯请消费者：“设身处地为我们想一想吧！”

        这项新运动，是在一个名为“捍卫互联网版权音乐联盟”的音乐人联盟的资助下，由IPG体育娱乐集团旗下的Amster

        Yard正式发起的，该公司也是美国唱片业协会的代表人物。它的到来正值唱片业处于困境之时，今年上半年，CD的销售量几乎下降了7%，据业界称这一后果从很大程度上来说是因为因特网的盗版和翻版。

        这项运动就是在法庭附属委员会代表团，互联网和知识产权界就盗版和互联网问题开始听证的当天爆发的。唱片业长期以来一直被批评说没能稳住那些醒悟过来的消费者，他们希望在互联网上找到更便宜的更容易获取的音乐。与此同时司法部门也一直在调查那些大唱片公司开发的收费音乐网站，是否限制了那些较小的竟争对手的发展，而违反了反托拉斯条例。

        唱片业也一直备受演艺人权益集团的诟病，他们抱怨唱片业统算方式总是偏向那些大公司，而那标准的七年唱片合同简直就是一纸“卖身契”。事实上，星期二，唱片艺术家联合会的代表在加州参议院聆听了关于行业帐目清算的执行，其中包括Eagles的前任歌手Don

        Henley，他本人并未被包括在此次新运动之中，但是共同的利益让他们为了这场反对资料互换的运动而走到了一起。

        业界主管说：我们真正有兴趣去观注的是，这场运动向人们提示了那些富有的艺人们的辛苦的一面，它是不是会对消费者们有所触动，像Combs这样的艺人，拥有一些追星簇，他们是会不惜血本的去购买Combs的Sean

        John的连锁店里从鞋子到西装到夹克的所有产品的。”　

        “这场运动的目的并不是要去博取同情，”美国唱片工业协会行政总裁Hilary Rosen说：“我们是要向人们表明，行业中存在着一个重大的问题，它正影响着我们的生存，而且它是违法的。”

        百代唱片公司的副总裁David Munns补充说：“现在整整有一代人，他们根本不知道非法交换资料就是剽窃。”

        并非所有的人都认为剽窃是唱片业所面临的最迫切的问题。税务与财政会计公司KPMG昨天公布的一项研究结果显示：媒体公司过多地将时间花在打击盗版上，而不是放在如何努力去发掘能通过在网上发行音乐和电影来实现赢利这一更艰难的问题上，因此而受到各种责难。而另一些批评家则说，使唱片行业陷入困境的并非主要是由于来自互联网的种种威胁，而更多是由于业内人士在发现能够吸引住消费者的新艺人方面，表现着实差劲。

        来源：纽约时报，中华传媒网 英文编辑编译

        Artists Fight Music File-Sharing

        By LAURA M. HOLSON

WHEN it comes to musical styles, Britney Spears, Luciano Pavarotti and Sean Combs, lately known as P. Diddy, do not appear to have much in common. But in a series of advertisements that begin running today, they are joining with 86 other recording artists to speak out against unauthorized music file-sharing, claiming it threatens the livelihood of everyone from recording artists and writers to sound engineers and record-store clerks.

"Would you go into a CD store and steal a CD?" asks Ms. Spears in one commercial to be shown in coming weeks. "It's the exact same thing, so why do it?"

In a print ad, Shakira, the hip-swiveling Latin pop star, urges the public to just "Say no to piracy." And Mr. Combs - in a statement released by the Recording Industry Association of America, which is largely financing the multimillion-dollar campaign - pleads with consumers to "Put yourself in our shoes!"

The new campaign, which officially runs under the auspices of a coalition of music professionals called Music United for Strong Internet Copyright, was developed by Amster Yard, a division of the IPG Sports and Entertainment Group, which also represents the Recording Industry Association of America。It comes at a difficult time for the recording industry. Sales of CD's fell nearly 7 percent during the first half of this year, largely, the industry claims, because of Internet piracy and file-sharing.

The campaign breaks the same day as the House of Representatives Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property begins hearings on piracy and the Internet.The recording industry has long been criticized for failing to assuage disillusioned consumers who want cheaper and more accessible music over the Internet. The Department of Justice, meanwhile, is investigating whether the paid on-line music sites developed by the record labels violate antitrust provisions by hampering smaller competitors.

The recording industry, too, has been criticized by artist rights groups, who complain that the industry's accounting rules favor the labels and that the standard seven-year recording contract is akin to indentured servitude. On Tuesday, in fact, representatives of the Recording Artists Coalition, which include the former Eagles singer Don Henley who is not included in the new campaign, were at a California State Senate hearing testifying about the industry's accounting practices. But mutual interests have brought them together for this campaign against file-swapping.

What will be interesting to watch, industry executives say, is whether consumers are alienated by a campaign that speaks of the travails of wealthy artists like Mr. Combs, who has some fans who are hard pressed to afford not only his shoes but also the suits and jackets he sells under his Sean John clothing line.

"This is not a campaign created to engender sympathy," said Hilary Rosen, chief executive of the Recording Industry Association of America. "We are saying there is a significant problem and it is affecting us and it is illegal." David Munns, the vice chairman of EMI Recorded Music, added, "There is a whole generation of people that don't know illegally swapping files is stealing."

Not everyone agrees that the most pressing problem facing the industry is theft. In a study　released　yesterday by KPMG, the tax and financial accounting firm, media companies were chided for spending too much time combating pirates instead of tackling the more difficult issue of finding new ways to profit by distributing music and movies online. And other critics say that the industry's poor performance in finding new artists that appeal to consumers is more responsible for the malaise than any threat from the Internet.