Nick Mason, Sandy Shaw and Ed Obrian Co-Chair FAC

[Keith Jordan]

http://www.music-news.com/shownews.asp? ... emID=37602

The Featured Artists Coalition (FAC) today announced that Ed O'Brien of Radiohead, Nick Mason of Pink Floyd and Sandie Shaw would be the new co-Chairs of the organisation going forward.

The FAC, which was set up eighteen months ago to create a support network and voice for music artists in the UK, has over 2,500 supporters. Members include household names such as Robbie Williams and Annie Lennox, as well as many lesser known and unsigned acts.

The new structure will allow each Chair to focus on key areas:

· Nick Mason will lead as the FAC ambassador to the music industry;

· Sandie Shaw will focus on driving membership recruitment and networking, and manage the FAC's infrastructure;

· Ed O'Brien will drive the FAC's education programme; this initiative seeks to help unsigned and less experienced artists navigate their way through the industry and share learnings from more established musicians.

Commenting on the announcement, Nick Mason said:

'We plan to focus on really making a difference to our members and artists in general. There are three key reasons people tell us they value being part of the FAC ' to make sure they are fairly represented and heard, to network with other artists and to learn from one another - and the structure will allow us do this in a more streamlined way.'

Dave Rowntree of Blur, who previously chaired the FAC had to step down due to work commitments. He remains on the Board along with other artists including Billy Bragg, Hal Ritson of The Young Punx, Kate Nash, Master Shortie, Fran Healy of Travis, Howard Jones and Mark Kelly of Marillion.

[drafsack]

Some big names to apply pressure to stop free download sites

[Keith Jordan]

If the music companies put the price of their CDs down to a reasonable fee, I bet the increase in sales would more than off-set the cost of dropping the price. Who would bother stealing an album when you could buy it for £4?

I think the music industry has damaged itself anyway by flooding the mass market with here today gone tomorrow pop bands that have no talent, do not deserve attention and are only good for one filthly pop single wrote by some faceless stranger lurking in the background. There are very few albums that come out thesedays that are actaually worth the effort of buying.

I want to be famous in the next 24 hours and I have no talent!

[nosaj]

The times they are a-changin'...$$$$

[drafsack]

The times they are a-changin'...$$$$

The times they are a-chargin'