FRANZ FERDINAND star ALEX KAPRANOS has given a lecture on file-sharing in EDINBURGH.

The singer, who has spoken out in favour of file-sharing in the past, has spoken to students at Edinburgh University (April 29).

Alex had earlier told BBC news: "To be honest I'm all for song swapping online. Downloading music from the Internet is something I do myself and something that I'd be keen to encourage.

"From my experience it isn't necessarily the musicians themselves that are against it, but those companies involved in the music industry.

"The way the music industry is trying to regulate online sites at the minute is very heavy-handed - fining kids for downloading songs is just crazy.

"File-sharing is something that has really helped us as a band in getting established. When Franz Ferdinand played a gig in New York for the first time, a lot of people there already knew our songs and were singing along.

"For us it has been global word of mouth that has helped our progress, not hindered it. I don't think it is damaging musicians at all. Downloading music is as revolutionary an invention as the gramophone and I'm all for it."

18 year-old Chris McCall from Edinburgh University was at the lecture. He told NME.COM: "He was quick to establish his opinion on the record companies handling of music, saying how Internet downloading wasn't the musicians' problem, and that it was the industry’s problem to sort it.

"He seems to care very passionately about the subject, stressing that he knows plenty of musicians who use the Internet a very useful tool to hear and distribute their own music.

"When asked if he was bothered about the money it cost him, he replied that any real musician should be in it for the music, and you had to question the motives of certain groups and singers who were up in arms about music downloading