Tag Archive for 'File Sharing'

Artist Turns to BitTorrent when his Music is Pirated by iTunes

Published on March 12, 2008 in Blog. 2 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Spotted on: TorrentFreak

An interview with the Flashbulb about his recent calamity with iTunes, and putting his album up on BitTorrent. It turns out iTunes is selling his albums without permission, and not paying royalties.

The Flashbulb (Benn Jordan) has been releasing albums for 14 years, the last 5 have included various commercial endeavors. The label deal he has is a 50/50 split, but he hasn’t been seeing the money. Benn says he has no agreement with iTunes to sell his music, and many of his fans have told him they bought his music there. When he investigated the issue further, his label asked him to drop it, and his calls went unreturned.

Here’s a great quote from Benn: “Who’s the pirate I should go after? A kid who downloads my album because it isn’t available in non-DRM format and costs $30 on Amazon? Or a huge multi-billion dollar corporation that has been selling thousands of dollars worth of my music and not even acknowledging it?”

Benn is being labeled in the press as pro-piracy, but his true stand is that people buy what they like. “What I’m promoting is the artist’s freedom to choose what can and can’t be done with his/her music, and more importantly, the listener’s freedom to do what he/she wants with their own computer, MP3 player, or internet connection.”

Benn makes a poignant case that the RIAA has spent so long dictating people’s taste and choices that they are now threatened by the opportunity for people to choose the music they want. He suggests that “music will be judged by it’s content again and will be subjected to it’s own Darwinism.”

Bottom Line: Where are all those billions in album sales really going?

What Happens to Music Collections When They’re Just Collections?

Published on February 27, 2008 in Blog. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , , .

Inspired on: The Campus Word

This article looks at the impact that huge MP3 collections has on our perception and enjoyment of music, and really got me thinking.

Music has value because it moves us. That special album that takes us back to some magic moment, or the songs we love to dance to. What has people by albums us the love of the music.

MP3 collecting is similar to collecting baseball cards. Grab an artist’s entire discography, and trade among your peers. Our music collections expand almost as fast as the national debt, and often music sits on our hard drives unlistened, unappreciated, and unacknowledged. We become overwhelmed with the amount of music we have to listen to, and start to lose our love for the music that touches us.

When music is downloaded and listened to only once or twice, it becomes a single serving item, like a hamburger. The joy of music is in the artistic expression, and the way we are moved when we hear something we love.

Could the current frenzy of MP3 downloading (both legal and illegal) be eliminating our love for music? There’s a phenomenon known as information overload. One way to look at the current consumption of MP3s is that music is in an information overload stage.

With so much music to choose from, both free and bought, and huge MP3 collections, the line between having music we love and having music because its there is getting blurred.

Most of the time, we relate to this in terms of album sales, and the music industry. What if we looked it as a shift in the perception of music? While music is always special, it’s apparent that we are now starting to view it as a thing to have. What effect this will have on our appreciation of music is anybody’s guess. Based on the habits of the general public, music is losing it’s intrinsic value as art, and becoming more like a piece of furniture.

Bottom line: We used to buy CDs because we loved the music. It is starting to appear that we now collect MP3s because they’re accessible.

RIAA Chief Wants to Put Filters On Every PC and Network

Published on February 18, 2008 in Blog. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Spotted On: ArsTechnica

The RIAA’s head, Cary Sherman, wants to put encryption on our computer that will force us to decrypt music before listening to it. In other words, the filter will scan all your incoming data and then either allow or deny your ability to listen to it. since this idea likely won’t be popular (who’s going to willingly put a filter on their computer that blocks the files they are downloading?), the next suggestion is to put the filters in our modems.

Despite the predictable public backlash against these tactics (in an environment where the RIAA already has public approval that rivals the US Congress), some ISPs are moving ahead with these filters. The technical specifics are a bit thick, suffice it to say that various file encryptions can bypass these filters unless entire protocols are blocked.

Here’s a video of Mr. Sherman lauding the glories of filtering:

Bottom Line: Being out of touch with your consumers’ needs does not improve your financial picture, or your credibility.

Record Label Uploads Whole Catalog to Pirate Bay

Published on February 15, 2008 in Blog. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Spotted on: Torrent Freak

Here’s something novel:

Dependent Records recently uploaded their entire catalog on Pirate Bay (Dependent specializes in aggrotech, electro-industrial and futurepop). Well, sort of. Apparently a group pretending to be Dependent posted the albums on the p2p site.

The quote from label head Stefan Herwig – well, an impersonator – is “I closed down my record label Dependent Records for good. But since I want my music to be heard by the people out there, everything I have ever published is now available on The Pirate Bay.”

While artists are turning to file sharing networks for promotion, it;s unusual to see a label do this (although there are some net labels giving away music, such as Kikapu and Lacedmilk).

Herwig (or his imposter) feels that p2p technologies are killing labels, not boosting sales. However, this article claims file sharing is a boon for new music. Perhaps availability adds to desirability.

Do you think file sharing is boosting or dropping album sales?

The RIAA – Know Your Rights? No, You’re Wrong?

Published on January 4, 2008 in Blog. 2 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Spotted on: YouTube