Lily Allen Says She's "Quitting Music" Amidst Blog Controversy

09/24/09 12:19pm

by Kate Harper (CHARTattack)

Lily Allen has said she's "retiring" from the music business on multiple occasions, but things look a little more serious this time.

The singer updated her anti-piracy blog on Wednesday to state that she will not renew her recording contract with EMI, according to NME.com. (The post has since been deleted, along with the entire blog.)

"Just so you know, I have not renegotiated my record contract and have no plans to make another record," she wrote. "I do however remain a fan of new music, so this is not some selfish crusade.

"The days of me making money from recording music have been and gone as far as I'm concerned, so I don't (at this point) stand to profit from [government] legislation [to combat illegal downloading]. Except future purchases of previously recorded material (which won't be much)."

However, Allen's spokesperson later told NME.com the post is bunk and the singer has no plans to retire from the music business.

"She is not quitting music," the spokesperson told the website. "She is not thinking about her next album right now because she is still in the middle of promoting her current record."

Allen said earlier this month that she was planning to begin an acting career following her last upcoming tour dates. Allen has repeatedly said in interviews that she wants to quit making music, but told Spin magazine in 2007 that she talks "crap all the time."

In case you're wondering why Allen's entire blog has been deleted, it has something to do with a bit of controversy she found herself in earlier this week.

Allen made a post about file sharing on the blog last weekend. Michael Masnick, a technology reporter who writes for the Techdirt website instantly found it a bit familiar.

According to the news.com.au website, the headline, sub-headline and the post's 135 words are "identical to Masnick's." Allen just added three sentences at the bottom of the article and did not provide attribution to the work that was not her own, the website reports.

Masnick's original post is here, but since Allen's website has been deleted, it's impossible to compare the posts.

"I thnk it's wonderful that Lily Allen found so much value in our Techdirt post that she decided to copy — or should I say pirate — the entire post," Masnick told TorrentFreak.

"The fact that she is trying to claim that such copying is bad, while doing it herself suggests something of a double standard."

Allen then later updated the blog with an apology of sorts.

"I THINK ITS QUITE OVIOUS [sic] THAT I WASN'T TRYING TO PASS OF [sic] THOSE WORDS AS MY OWN, HERE IS A LINK TO THE WEBSIITE [sic] I ACQUIRED THE PIECE FROM. Apologies to Michael Masnick," she wrote, according to The Daily Swarm.

As for why Allen took the post down, she updated her Twitter earlier today to provide fans with a reason.

"i've shut down the blog, the abuse was getting too much," she wrote.

Allen will play these dates:

Oct. 22 Paris, France @ Le Zenith De Paris
Oct. 23 Antwerp, Belgium @ Lotto Arena
Oct. 25 Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Heineken Music Hall
Oct. 28 Milan, Italy @ Alcatraz
Oct. 29 Munich, Germany @ Theaterfabrik
Oct. 30 Prague, Czech Republic @ Club Sasazu
Oct. 31 Hamburg, Germany @ Docks
Nov. 3 Berlin, Germany @ Astra
Nov. 16 Sheffield, England @ O2 Academy Sheffield
Nov. 17-18 Manchester, England @ Manchester Apollo
Nov. 20 Bournemouth, England @ Bournemouth International Centre
Nov. 21 Plymouth, England @ Plymouth Pavilions
Nov. 22 Swindon, England @ Oasis Leisure Centre
Nov. 24 Birmingham, England @ National Indoor Arena
Nov. 25 Glasgow, Scotland @ Scottish Exhibition & Conference Centre
Nov. 27-28 London, England @ O2 Academy Brixton
Dec. 8 Dublin, Ireland @ O2 Arena
Dec. 9 Liverpool, England @ Echo Arena
Dec. 10 Nottingham, England @ Trent FM Arena
Dec. 11 Cardiff, Wales @ Cardiff International Arena
Dec. 13 Brighton, England @ Brighton Centre
Dec. 15, 17 London, England @ O2 Academy Brixton