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Editors singer Tom Smith has backed Ed O'Brien's stand on file-sharing but branded Radiohead's In Rainbows 'honesty box' release scheme 'selfish'.

In 2007 fans were invited to pay as much or as little as they liked for the Oxford giants' latest album.

He said letting fans pay nothing for the record conflicts with their campaign on encouraging people to pay for music, because by giving it away for free, it created an unfair standard, when unsigned indie bands are struggling to make money from their craft.

"It's a weird thing to say that but in giving it away for free, it didn't feel like it had any connection to the bigger problem and it was selfish," explained the Editors frontman to BBC 6 Music.

Adding: "But it wasn't like they started it, it was a continuation of an ongoing problem."

The file-sharing debate came to the fore last month with members of the Featured Artist Coalition hitting out over government proposals to cut off the internet of persistent offenders.

"It's a weird thing to say that but in giving it away for free, it didn't feel like it had any connection to the bigger problem and it was selfish."

Tom Smith 

There was some criticism of the more established artists getting involved, because music piracy has a greater effect on rising talent than established artists.

The likes of Lily Allen, Billy Bragg, Pink Floyd's Nick Mason and more than 100 musicians then attended a meeting, forming a united front and said it would be better to limit broadband speeds rather than sever people's internet.

Tom Smith said he is behind Ed O'Brien for getting involved and acting as a mouthpiece for younger bands.

"I do think it is important to make a stand," he said. "What I find hard is that, paying for music doesn't seem normal any more.

"It's like music is just background, you can just grab bits and pieces rather than an album as a whole, but I think the big artists have a responsibility for the smaller artists, to speak up when things are going wrong. I also find it weird that they gave their album away for free. I think that's in direct conflict to that."

Birmingham-based indie rockers Editors release their third album, In This Light And On This Evening, next Monday.
 
Hear more from that interview in the Music Week podcast which is available to download now for free until Sunday 11 October.