Pete Townshend, Elton John + Robert Plant Among Those Calling for Action Against Google Over Illegal Music Distribution

A number of top musicians across several different genres have banded together to ask British Prime Minister David Cameron to take action against Google over the ability for music fans to illegally copy and distribute music through the search engine.

The artists, which include such topline names as Pete Townshend, Elton John, Robert Plant, and Brian May, have drafted and signed an open letter published in the Daily Telegraph urging Cameron to move on the matter.

In the letter, it highlights the role that search engines can play in giving people access to illegal copies. They state, "[Search engines must] play their part in protecting consumers and creators from illegal sites." They also ask that broadband companies and online advertisers take more drastic measures concerning the illegal downloading matter as well.

The artists also request that Cameron speed up the process on the proposed 2010 Digital Economy Act, which will send warning letters to those downloading pirated material and threatens the possibility of having their Internet access cut off should further infractions take place. At present, the act is not set to go into effect until 2014.

The BPI, the music industry body, had previously accused Google of making it easy for users to find links for file sharing websites where they can pirate music freely.

For their part, Google has denied supporting piracy and added that they remove millions of links a month from their listings after requests from music publishers.