U2 Manager Paul McGuiness: Mad as hell and he's not going to take it anymore

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Walking into Paul McGuiness' International Music Managers Forum presentation in MIDEM on Monday afternoon, I was expecting some war stories, some words of wisom from this icon who's managed U2 for over 30 years, leading them to and through sales of over 150 million worldwide.  What a stunned packed house got instead were some harsh words and a cold serious focus.  Paul McGuiness wants the world to know that he considers filesharing theivery, but he doesn't care much about the end users, he's targeting the individuals  and companiers who are raking in the billions and billions of dollars that should be going (at least in part) to the creators and rights holders.

He called out people and companies and named names. ISPs, device makers, and online communities like the telcos across the globe, the nokias, Apples, sony ericssons, the iLikes, facebooks, and yahoos, and the silicon valley smart people were called the "makers of burglary kits" and Paul put out a call to arms, demading that these people share the wealth with the creators.

It was stunning. There were a few hoots and cheers as Paul came to key parts of his presentation entitled ‘The Online Bonanza: Who is making all the money and why aren’t they sharing it?’ Blogger Charley Rogulewski has since posted a full transcript of the presentation...I polled people all week to see what they thought...some said he's a genious positioned so that he can say such things and wage a war on some of the biggest companies on the globe.  Others admired his clarity and focus. A few who believe Paul McGuiness has become completely mad.  I am interested to see if this makes a difference, and if any of those targeted respond.  I hope a method is created, and fast, for creators and rights holders to get their fair share. There are many people and companies out there becoming cazillionaires on the backs of artists and it has to stop.

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