Robbie leads chorus of artists undermining piracy message. (Midem News).

The gulf between the corporate music industry and some artists' stance on piracy was laid bare at this year's Midem, as Robbie Williams was followed by other acts in publicly backing illegal copying.

The EMI signing dominated the headlines emerging from last week's Cannes festival after he remarked in a press conference that he thought CD piracy was "great" and suggested there was "nothing no-one can do about it".

"I went and saw all the labels and asked, 'What are you going to do about it?' and I heard a lot of hot air," he added, in reference to last year's high-profile deal negotiations. "The heads of the record labels don't know what to do about it."

His views, which came during an event dominated by industry discussions about fighting ever-rising levels of illegal copying, appear far from isolated as other artists chipped in as the conference unfolded with their own enthusiastic backing for music piracy.

Midem's Best of British showcase headliners, Telstar-signed Ladytron, came out in support of illegal file-sharing at the UK-organised event's press conference, where David Holmes also reckoned the only people who suffered from downloading were more established artists.

"I'm for downloading because a lot of kids in the world haven't got a pot to piss in," added Holmes, whose Free Association are signed to 13 Amp. "I believe people should get music by any means necessary."

The singer-songwriter Geoffrey ...