Graham Linehan 'music pirates are fans'

In an interview with the Guardian the writer, who helped create the hit series Father Ted, The IT Crowd, and Black Books, outlined his thoughts on the debate which is currently raging over the piracy of artistic material. 

 

Speaking to the newspaper Linehan said: "These people aren't pirates, they're fans.

 

“If you think of them like that, it becomes much easier to understand. What fans hate, what they fear, is spoilers. They want to get the content as soon as they can."

 

As a writer Linehan considers himself caught in the middle of the tussle over whether people who download music and films off the web should be prosecuted, or whether different ways should be found to charge people for content.

 

“I need to be paid and to feed my family, but I'm also a user and a consumer, and I'm really sick of being left out of the conversation,” he said. “Give the fans the chance to buy the content if they can, and to get it early, and you'll win their love and their money.”