Anti-piracy group Music Matters describes themselves as a “collective effort by artists and all those who work in and around music to remind listeners of its enduring value.”

Their campaign “Why Music Matters” is an attempt to let people know which music-downloading services that they use are not only legal, but which ones support the artists.

From their Facebook page –

We are also very proud to launch the Music Matters badge – this trust mark will appear on legal music services and signifies support for musician, producers, songwriters and all those who work in music.

To provoke conversation about the significance & value of music and the impact it makes on each and every one of us.

Services that use the “Music Matters Trustmark” include Amazon, iTunes, Napster, HMV and Spotify.

Music Matters wants to brand “illegal” filesharing as an act that takes away from the importance of music.

As part of this campaign they are employing short animated videos, released on YouTube, that feature stories about “why music matters.” These videos use the original artist’s songs and all communicate the message that music is important, and that’s why we should pay for it.

Their latest video features The Beatles. From the AP –

The estate of iconic British band has pledged its support for the anti-piracy campaign Music Matters by sanctioning a special animated short film set to their recordings.

The Beatles’ songs provide the soundtrack for the film’s central character, who uses music to mark the milestones in his life. The film – which is available online – aims to encourage people not to fileshare music so artists can get paid for their work.

Whether you agree with the message of the group or not, the video is pretty awesome. It uses 4 Beatles tracks to show us how important the shared listening experience is to everyone’s life.

You might have noticed that the video isn’t very specific in it’s anti-piracy message. If you didn’t know what “Music Matters” was, you probably wouldn’t know that this video is anything more that a Beatles tribute clip.

I guess that works in favor of the Music Matter campaign and against them at the same time. Someone like me, who doesn’t entirely agree with their premise, can still feel emotionally connected to the video.

But people who don’t know what Music Matters is trying to do can see that message however they want. For instance, “Music is a shared experience, and it matters, yes, so I should go out and download as much Beatles music as I can – for free.”

The YouTube comments on the video show a pretty heated debate about filesharing and the music industry. Some, however, don’t seem to understand the message of the video.

This isn’t the first of these animated videos produced by Music Matters. You can watch videos featuring Iron Maiden, Elbow, and Nina Simone here. Here’s one about Thin Lizzy’s Phil Lynott –