Damn pirates!

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ProjectM
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2009/02/21 10:31:42 (permalink)

Damn pirates!

Just released an album for sale and it's now freely availible on the magic world of internet!

I can definitely take that as a compliment that people go criminal to hear it, since music is not what pays my bills these days, but I'm not any closer to that when several hundred people have the latest album for free. I'm happy they have it, tho, and perhaps they like it.

What does annoy me is that there was this kid in Germany who purchased it directly from our webstore...

He even e-mailed us and asked if our shop keeper could hurry up and send it, even before the money transaction came through.

Two days after it was sendt, it was all over russian filesharing sites...

And I found his user name (same as the e-mail address he ordered with) on one of the forums hosting the torrents or the wavs them selves, taking glory for the find.

Blah!

If I never knew who this kid was, It wouldn't be so irritating.



Merry weekend!


Marius

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#1

19 Replies Related Threads

    Doc_Hollingsworth
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    RE: Damn pirates! 2009/02/23 12:32:02 (permalink)
    Somewhere I read (I think it was in Start & Run Your Own Record Label) that when Napster was active as an independent sharing medium (like bit torrent). That CD sales actually went up and that when Metallica and the labels got them shut down CD sales plummeted. I am not by any means condoning what this individual has done.

    Though what this kid has done is a crap thing to do I hope that it will result in more sales for you. You know I just don't get it with people. Do they not realize that artists (musical or otherwise) make their living from their works? That buying a CD or a download helps the bands they like create more music and allow those bands to bring their music to a venue near them? Download the music for free and the musicians go broke or have to keep holding down a day job just to do what they love....

    I feel for you, man.

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    #2
    Fog
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    RE: Damn pirates! 2009/02/23 17:28:45 (permalink)
    Marius ,

    you could always return a nice gift to him.. since you probably know his net provider + real address?

    if you have the header of the email you could always do a "who is" on the IP address... contact his net provider showing postings on other sites etc. and about copyright infringement. They can easily check what he's been up to.

    he might not feel so smug when his provider kick him off for copyright infringement of your work.just a thought..

    oh and don't ever send him album 2.

    sadly this happens, but hopefully people will realise what your doing and actually buy it. We'd be naive to think it didn't , but the only way to educate people is to get them value from it, ONLY for people who buy the things. Games etc have a number that you register, I'm suprised people don't do the same with cd's.. so they register it.. and because of that they might get something more etc.. signed copy of your next album etc etc.. not everyone.. but there is a few things to add value to the release, that won't cost you loads.

    post edited by Fog - 2009/02/23 17:37:32
    #3
    robby
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    RE: Damn pirates! 2009/02/23 17:56:55 (permalink)
    hunt him down and make him pay in other ways...
    post edited by robby - 2009/02/23 18:04:47

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    #4
    jacktheexcynic
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    RE: Damn pirates! 2009/02/23 18:23:34 (permalink)
    there has never really been any way to test how pirated music affects sales. it's always assumed to be negative (which is a safe assumption) but i think it varies upon the type of music.

    for example:

    a lesser known but good artist can benefit from file sharing as it gives people easy access to "try before they buy." more people may end up buying their album (undoubtedly via word of mouth) than if they had no other way to hear it.

    a famous artist will almost certainly make fewer sales as people already know who they are and many of those people aren't directly interested in the artist. however it's not a direct correlation because these people probably wouldn't have bought their CD anyway. in other words, they are "getting the music" simply because it is available, not because they prefer to steal it.

    a famous artist with only one hit single per album will undoubtedly suffer the most, because people will download the whole album for that one song. they will probably delete the crap off their playlist and never think twice about buying a whole CD for one song. before filesharing, these individuals probably would have purchased the CD based on the one song and been disappointed in the other 9 tracks.

    in simplistic terms, i think filesharing has over-corrected the economics of the music industry's strangle-hold on distribution. as always, its the artists that suffer, although in general i think they are suffering in proportion to their investment in those stranglehold tactics. the number of people exposed to their music has gone up proportionately with those who steal it, and sales will reflect more accurately those people who are true fans and those who are simply consumers.

    - jack the ex-cynic
    #5
    robby
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    RE: Damn pirates! 2009/02/23 20:24:46 (permalink)
    I hope no one ever tries to pirate my music :-(


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    #6
    Marah
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    RE: Damn pirates! 2009/02/23 20:38:14 (permalink)
    My my, aren't we the Vigil Aunty.

    ORIGINAL: robby

    I hope no one ever tries to pirate my music :-(





    But don't worry. I don't think you've got much to worry about.
    #7
    Rbh
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    RE: Damn pirates! 2009/02/23 22:59:13 (permalink)
    Not to really sound like a holier than thou type, but I can honestly say that I've never downloaded a piece of commercial music. It rubbed me wrong from the very start and the whole napster thing sort of made me sick. I have neighbors that regularly offer me movies that they get from net flicks for me to burn for my very own. On the other hand, I rarely pay 14.00 or 15.00 for a new CD for myself either. Glad I write my own stuff.

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    #8
    jhughs
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    RE: Damn pirates! 2009/02/23 23:07:23 (permalink)
    Robby - Nice photo.

    As for the piracy, it's almost as if you have to nip them in the bud by offering the music free yourself, but as "shareware". So along the lines of the music is free to download, but if you enjoy it please make a contribution of X dollars. (echoing jacktheexcynic's last paragraph)

    Not sure if this is true, but my son told me Radiohead put their last album up for free just to increase live performance ticket sales. Which is ironic, because until the mid-70s, ticket prices for live shows were cheap to help promote album sales.

    I sure wish you could flag this kid for the jerk that he is though.

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    #9
    Sonic the Hedgehog
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    RE: Damn pirates! 2009/02/23 23:29:15 (permalink)

    ORIGINAL: jacktheexcynic

    there has never really been any way to test how pirated music affects sales. it's always assumed to be negative (which is a safe assumption) but i think it varies upon the type of music.

    for example:

    a lesser known but good artist can benefit from file sharing as it gives people easy access to "try before they buy." more people may end up buying their album (undoubtedly via word of mouth) than if they had no other way to hear it.

    a famous artist will almost certainly make fewer sales as people already know who they are and many of those people aren't directly interested in the artist. however it's not a direct correlation because these people probably wouldn't have bought their CD anyway. in other words, they are "getting the music" simply because it is available, not because they prefer to steal it.

    a famous artist with only one hit single per album will undoubtedly suffer the most, because people will download the whole album for that one song. they will probably delete the crap off their playlist and never think twice about buying a whole CD for one song. before filesharing, these individuals probably would have purchased the CD based on the one song and been disappointed in the other 9 tracks.

    in simplistic terms, i think filesharing has over-corrected the economics of the music industry's strangle-hold on distribution. as always, its the artists that suffer, although in general i think they are suffering in proportion to their investment in those stranglehold tactics. the number of people exposed to their music has gone up proportionately with those who steal it, and sales will reflect more accurately those people who are true fans and those who are simply consumers.



    I agree whole-heartedly with Jack's statement. I'd like to add that while no one likes to lose hard-earned cash or work to theft, there is a distinction here. While record companies blame dwindling sales due to piracy(and not due to other factors - because they can't since it is always easier to blame others), a large percentage of copied music(or movies) are done by individuals who would not have bought these items in the first place. Yes, I copied a movie I rented last week. Whether I had done so or not, the director/producer would not have lost or gained a penny. If there are culprits it the videostores and the public libraries!

    ''I work to live, but live to make music'' -Mahler
    #10
    Fog
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    RE: Damn pirates! 2009/02/23 23:36:02 (permalink)
    ORIGINAL: jhughs

    Not sure if this is true, but my son told me Radiohead put their last album up for free just to increase live performance ticket sales. Which is ironic, because until the mid-70s, ticket prices for live shows were cheap to help promote album sales.



    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/markets/2816893/Radiohead-challenges-labels-with-free-album.html

    pretty sure it's not.. because they had issues with the name your price album , some people were giving say 70p.. etc.. but it wasn't covering the cost of the bandwidth being used..

    older acts who are known , well the live act side of things is a good way to make money.. prince done it with an album , gave it away.. made a load of money on live side.


    post edited by Fog - 2009/02/23 23:44:32
    #11
    Cheeto
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    RE: Damn pirates! 2009/02/24 05:29:22 (permalink)
    Yikes! that glock-enspiel may be a little harsh no? That over sized drumstick may be more appropriate.
    #12
    robby
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    RE: Damn pirates! 2009/02/24 12:20:01 (permalink)
    Hey, pick on somebody your own size! Sorry... I know that rules most of us out.
    post edited by robby - 2009/02/24 12:28:01

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    #13
    ParanoiA
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    RE: Damn pirates! 2009/02/25 13:15:27 (permalink)
    I don't know, it's been my experience that people download what they wouldn't have bought anyway. The mp3's I've downloaded have led me to the record store to get the CD, since they just don't sonically compare - unless of course it sucks, or it's old, which falls into the category of stuff I wouldn't have bought anyway. I discovered Mars Volta like this, as well as Muse and a couple of others, and now have most of their CD's - more than anything I got from MP3.

    I realize alot of folks are trying to make a living writing songs and distributing them but I'm not. My music isn't for sale, it's for listening to. It's for sharing and escape, it's not to pay my bills. I love the whole filesharing epidemic and the potential to reclaim the artsy side of music. I probably wouldn't if I was part of the older framework. I certainly remember growing up with all of my musician buddies going on and on about sacrifice and the eternally common quest to "make it" in the music biz. I'm glad I never listened to them and I'm glad I moved on instead of contributing to the capitalistic ruin that has befallen popular art.

    Don't get me wrong, I don't have any issues with musicians making money selling their art, even if it sounds like fast-food McDonalds music. But since I'm not one of them, I'll just piss on the ones that are and claim the higher ground for it.


    Edit: Forgot to mention my appeal to shift the focus from the product to the artist. We saw a fraction of that possibility when Radiohead offered their record online for the price people were willing to pay. I paid a little over 7 bucks at the time, I think it was 5 Euros - for a record full of mp3's to download, which doesn't contain the dynamics of typical 44.1 CD releases, nor any cover art, lyrics, case, nothing. But here, I'm still looking at the product of 'In Rainbows'. Why not just release everything, electronically, and ask your fans to pay you what you deserve as an artist - what you mean to them? Maybe they're afraid they'll find out just how much they don't mean to them at all.

    Instead of jacking people around to pay the same price for a fancy new CD that you can trick them into buying since they don't know the contents. When's the last time somebody sold you a brown bag of food with knowledge of about 10% of what's in it?
    post edited by ParanoiA - 2009/02/25 13:36:22
    #14
    jacktheexcynic
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    RE: Damn pirates! 2009/02/25 18:24:55 (permalink)
    i think a netflix approach to music wouldn't be too bad of an idea. same rules, with an option to buy the CD (a shrink-wrapped one) if you like it. granted, CDs are higher risk because most people listen to them multiple times versus movies/TV which they will watch once. but even then a lot of people buy movies they like to watch over and over.

    probably wouldn't work but it's a thought. for some reason music subscription services just don't do it for me. i love pandora though. found some great artists through that. if i knew that buying an Amazon mp3 was DRM-free i'd be buying a lot of mp3s...

    - jack the ex-cynic
    #15
    keith
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    RE: Damn pirates! 2009/02/25 19:32:19 (permalink)

    ORIGINAL: jacktheexcynic
    if i knew that buying an Amazon mp3 was DRM-free i'd be buying a lot of mp3s...


    How 'bout itunes?
    #16
    jacktheexcynic
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    RE: Damn pirates! 2009/02/25 19:37:31 (permalink)
    if they released DRM-free mp3s, i wouldn't really care what store sold them.

    - jack the ex-cynic
    #17
    keith
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    RE: Damn pirates! 2009/02/25 20:00:13 (permalink)
    iTunes is going DRM-free now... According to this article Amazon already sells DRM-free MP3's?

    http://edge.macuser.com/article/138000/2009/01/drm_faq.html

    Is that true? Don't know about that as I don't buy MP3s there...

    The major difference would be that itunes gives you AAC-encoded M4A (MPEG-4) files -- AAC is supposed to be better quality encoding than old MP3, and no licensing cost to boot. According to the referenced article, many portable devices support AAC. DRM-free files can be moved to any PC, burned to disk as many times as you want, etc.

    The new DRM-free content is also higher quality -- 256kbps instead of 128kbps of the old protected M4P files.

    Only downside, I think, is that apple will be incorporating a tiered pricing model soon -- $.69, $.99, $1.29.
    #18
    jacktheexcynic
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    RE: Damn pirates! 2009/02/25 20:04:51 (permalink)
    i heard that amazon is selling DRM-free ones but not sure how you tell which are which...

    edit: after reading the itunes thing, i might have to check that out. winamp plays AAC, so no need for iTunes i hope. and i can finally use that $15 itunes gift card from work
    post edited by jacktheexcynic - 2009/02/25 20:14:15

    - jack the ex-cynic
    #19
    keith
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    RE: Damn pirates! 2009/02/25 20:13:16 (permalink)
    On the PC, you don't need itunes itself to play the M4A files... quicktime will do... or winamp, as you've suggested...

    EDIT: of course, to buy from itunes you need itunes installed... if you do go the itunes route, make sure the songs you put in your shopping cart have the little "+" icon -- those are the 256kbps DRM-free versions
    post edited by keith - 2009/02/25 20:20:35
    #20
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