Andrew Lloyd Webber Calls Internet ‘Somalia of Piracy’

Composer Andrew Lloyd Webber is freaking the eff out about the rise of illegal downloading on the internet, declaring that there will never be a Beatles again and moral relativism will conquer the Earth.

“The question that occurs to me is whether in 10 years time Britain would be a place that say The Beatles could have emerged from,” Webber said (via the Telegraph). “Will Britain be a fertile environment for all creative talent? Will Britain be a place where music, TV, film, games and publishing companies are sufficiently healthy to invest in British creative talent and take it to the rest of the world?”

“No. Not in a world where there are no longer shops where you can buy the physical products and the internet is a sort of Somalia of unregulated theft and piracy.”

See that? Your pirated version of Jesus Christ Superstar is causing starvation in Africa, says Andrew Lloyd Webber. Sort of.

He goes on to blame internet service providers for turning a blind eye to the “cataclysmic” situation, adding this choice bit, which probably knocks ‘em dead at Webber’s dinner parties: “Red wines in France are not content providers for the glass manufacturing business. Britain’s creative industries are not content providers for broadband.”

Webber should take a page out of Lars Ulrich’s book and schedule a sit-down with Trent Reznor.