Demonoid Aftermath: An Open Letter to the CRIA
In the aftermath of the recent demonoid turmoil, “A former music buyer” posted an open letter to the CRIA - an impressive summary of what’s wrong with the music industry and how they alienate their customers. The RIAA and the CRIA have to rethink their business models, closing down p2p sites does not solve the problem.
To Whom It May Concern at the CRIA:
I have been an avid music collector for many years, and have approximately 1000 CD’s in my collection, not counting albums that I have purchased over the internet and own only digital copies of. I purchase approximately 30-40 new CDs per year. However, thanks to your recent decision to block Canadian users from accessing Demonoid, I have decided that I cannot continue to support this backwards, dysfunctional industry with my money any longer, and as such, I do not plan on purchasing music ever again if it means that one penny goes to your organization.
I listen to heavy metal music, a form of music that “the industry” stopped supporting many years ago, so I have a hard time feeling any sympathy. Sites such as Demonoid have done far more to promote the music I love than your organization or the industry in general has ever done. I can find out about new artists and new releases from artists that are never promoted. I can listen to music from artists that have never been played on the radio, will never be shown on MuchMusic or MTV, and never have a review or even mention of their new album written about in the local newspaper. From listening to this music, I can make an informed decision if I wish to purchase the album or not, as I am not going to gamble $15-20 on something that I haven’t heard anything off of before.
25 years ago, I primarily learned about music from friends who dubbed a copy onto a cassette tape, where I could listen to it and make a decision if I wanted to buy the tape for myself. Now, many years removed from school, my “gang” of friends to share music with has shifted from cassette tapes and the school cafeteria to sharing mp3’s online. I listen to some things that I don’t like, and consequently, I don’t buy those albums. What I do like, I buy, or at least I used to, before your decision intended to stop me from hearing new music.
The industry cries that record sales are down, and blames this all on internet downloading. I won’t be so naïve as to say that internet downloading has no impact on the sales. Downloading has certainly stopped me from making the stupid purchases where I heard one single that I liked and bought an entire album only to find out that the rest of the songs are crap, and the CD sits collecting dust on my shelf. But for every CD that I didn’t buy based on those premises, there are 2 or 3 other CDs that I did buy because I heard of them for the first time on a site like Demonoid.
In the meantime, the music industry itself needs to recognize that they are to blame for sagging record sales. For years, they have been marketing recycled crap, and people are getting tired of it. On the odd occasion that something fresh and new accidentally slips through and gets radio play, the music industry immediately signs a seemingly infinite number of clone bands that makes the “new, fresh” sound boring almost instantly. It seems the music industry doesn’t even care about making or promoting good music any more. Instead, they market a young, pretty face that can dance provocatively and lip-synch well, and push this on the radio stations to play while getting the tabloids to print large pictures of their breasts. If bands like AC/DC or Motorhead were to emerge today, they would never be successful; not because of poor record sales due to downloading, but due to the fact that they’re ugly so the record company wouldn’t promote them, if they picked them up at all. In the meantime, they’re falling all over themselves to promote Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan, or any teenage tramp that can be airbrushed to look sexy.
The record labels cry about downloading cutting into the profits of the sales of albums. They put out “greatest hits” albums by 20-year olds with 2 or 3 albums under their belts, released with one new track to try and sucker the fans that already have both albums into spending another $20 for one new song, or re-releasing a 3-month old album with a “previously unreleased bonus track”. Then they can’t understand why people aren’t buying them, and cry foul that people are downloading the one new song instead.
I know not only the record companies are crying. Artists that have been around long enough to have enough clout to get a cut of the record sales are concerned about their cut, like Metallica that also clamor that “downloading is evil”, and then go on to sell over 9 million copies of their last album instead of 9.1 million. Boo hoo. Meanwhile, many younger, smaller artists favor downloading, because they know it’s the only way that people will get to hear the music and in turn come out to see their shows, because the record label sure as hell isn’t promoting them. But they can’t say that out loud, can they? If they do, guess which band is going to get dropped by the label?
So tell me, what does the CRIA do to promote metal? Oh, right, you’ve got a link to the top 50 “metal” albums in Canada, which after a quick glance at the top ten this week includes punk acts like Dropkick Murphys, Finger Eleven, and Billy Talent, and rock acts like Nickelback and Queen, but very little that resembles heavy metal. (Perhaps you should ask the Celtic punk band, Dropkick Murphys, what they think of being labeled as “metal”.)
And also tell me, without Demonoid, where would I have found out about bands like Evile or Dublin Death Patrol and made a decision to purchase their album online (because no record store that I have found in Canada carries either one). And god forbid the CRIA would care about the promotion of Canadian talent, such as longtime recording artist Annihilator, which released one of the better albums of 2007. However, I have yet to see their new album sold in any store in Canada, including HMV’s flagship store on Yonge Street in Toronto, and I ultimately had to buy a copy from a UK website. Considering the only place I had heard about this album was having downloaded it from Demonoid, do you really expect anyone to make this kind of effort to buy an album without ever having heard it?
The record labels and CRIA have gone to great lengths to tell us that downloading and sharing music is killing the music industry. Open your eyes and you will see that the music industry dinosaur has already been killing itself for years, and by resisting technology rather than embracing it and using it to their advantage. “Oh, but they have,” you try to insist, pointing to the sites devoted to selling music in mp3 format online. I notice that most of the metal bands I am interested in are still not available through these services. I also notice that buying an entire album ends up costing as much, if not more, than if I went to buy it in the store, even though there are no longer costs of materials or shipping that have to be paid for, and once again, I fail to come up with any sympathy for the music industry. I hope the music industry does die, because I know that music itself will not die so with the corrupt aspects of the industry gone, only then might music once again flourish.
Sincerely,
A former music buyer
Previously: Crackdown on File-Sharers Trading in Gay Porn
Next: Mininova.org Servers and Traffic: 2006 vs 2007
361 Responses (Add yours or TrackBack)
Pages: [1] 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 … 15 » Show All
Pretty kickass! I only buy music directly from the band at shows these days.
my god im happy
And let’s not forget the unholy amount of soundtracks that get produced but never promoted, from movies or otherwise. Were it not to BitTorrent I wouldn’t have even considered buying any of the soundtrack CDs I now have,
CRIA and RIAA are both a joke. It’s a good idea in theory, but there needs to be a serious change in the management.
I completely agree with that open letter! Couldn’t have said it better myself.
Nice letter, music fan man. I have also refrained from buying cd and what not simply because the market is flooded my mainstream crap; I’m tired about hearing Rihanna a billionth time on a dance floor or some other rap crap (old rap was good, the old ones from way back. Actually sang about people, no sex, bling, rims, suvs, hoes, etc, like today).
Every time that I do go to a store that sells audio media, I can’t find for the life of me, any trance music. I stay there for hours and I can’t find any, just a bunch of radio crap.
I then come back to the internets to get what I need. I sometimes also have to get my cd’s outside of Canada, like in Europe to get my trance.
|sarc| I congratulate the RIAA and CRIA, way to promote other genres of music.|sarc.end|
I see soo much dance music, unfortunately, its crap that is heard on the radio.
I do hope that the music industry, not the MPAA (I love watching my movies in the theatres), does die in flames or quietly. As well as anti-p2p and ant-piracy orgs., may they die as well.
Would you like an invite to OiNK?
good read. good points.
::Claps::
Well said man! Show them who’s boss!!
In regards to: “However, thanks to your recent decision to block Canadian users from accessing Demonoid…”
We have seen no proof that CRIA is responsible. All we have is Deimos’ word. And that jackass is not releasing this alleged threatening letter. Posts like this, while making valid points may not do anything positive in regards to this situation. Attacking Cria may be off base. The thing is to pressure Diemos and his crew to produce or shut the fuck up.
Best piece of anti-establishment porn I’ve jerked off to in a long time!
move to sweden!!! :D
well said, and couldn’t been said better.
its a ture fact.
“…I know that music itself will not die so with the corrupt aspects of the industry gone, only then might music once again flourish.”
I am waiting for this day to come. However, I have a sad feeling that the eras of great bands like Zeppelin and AC/DC are gone forever.
Awesome letter. But It will do fuck all.
Id love to see CRIA faces when they read that :X
“Oct 04, 2007 at 16:30 by sniperQuote sniper
In regards to: “However, thanks to your recent decision to block Canadian users from accessing Demonoid…”
We have seen no proof that CRIA is responsible. All we have is Deimos’ word. And that jackass is not releasing this alleged threatening letter. Posts like this, while making valid points may not do anything positive in regards to this situation. Attacking Cria may be off base. The thing is to pressure Diemos and his crew to produce or shut the fuck up.”
^^^^^
retards like this, will get them selves busted and lead to more attacks on the commUNITY. Sniper, you must be wet behind the ears about the subject. cause it sounds like you were still on your moms tit when napster was going down. try to read a little and your next post might make more sense.
to mayor. I see deimos’s little imps are crawling out of their holes. I thoght you morons were afraid of the light. Try going to school and getting an education. Retards like you need to learn how to parse a sentence and then learn how to think on your own and not swallow some dorks propaganda. Then and maybe then, you might make a little sense. But in the mean time, you must be wet in your diaper. Get your mommy to change it for you.
READ THIS, you demonoiders.
this was written by a girl on the official forums who works for canadian government and promised to get to the bottom of things:
This is Crap!!!! I am in the process of getting to the bottom of this. CRIA cannot stop a public tracker service. It just cant happen. I work for a government agency here in Canada and what CRIA is doing is against our rights. We have the right as Canadians to access public information. There is absolutely no way that a non-government body would be able to force an interenet site to stop serving canadian traffic. Unless you are serving child porn or other illegal activity. File Sharing is not illegal here in Canada. I believe that you guys should take the tails out from between your legs and fight back. We canadians dont tolerate being pushed around and told what to do. I know that I already have staff in my office working on this issue as we find it a blatent disregard to our rights as Canadians.
now earlier today she wrote:
I have contacted people at CRIA. This is what I have been told. They have in no way employed any Law Firm to represent them in any matters concerning torrents. CRIA did not have the letter sent. Someone is playing a very naasty joke and I would suggest you show them what they law is about when you unlawfully represent yourself. I would highly suggest that Demonoid contact CRIA direct and let them know about what he had recieved. I know they would love to see the letter. I would also look into seeing if this said law firm actually exsists. Anyways this is what I have found out. I hope this helps you get to the bottom of this.
Cheers
Merrlinne
Just wanted to add I am ashamed to call myself canadian. I sent them an email telling them they will never get another dime from me, and they made me embarrassed of my own country.
I think this letter represents how many canadians feel at this time, me included.
Okay, to Sniper, by your own statement where is this “girls” proof that anything she says is any truer than Demios’ statement about getting a letter from the CRIA? Honestly I rarely use Demoniod, but I don’t see what possible advantage Demios could have in blocking Canadian traffic if he -didn’t- get a letter. What would be the point? If there is one I don’t know about, someone feel free to inform me.
I have read over Canadian law pertaining to this and really cannot find anything solid that says what demonoid does is illegal in this country. Maybe it is possible someone else posed as CRIA ?? I would think Demonoid would look into this in a little more detail before tearing their site down in what seemed to be fear of being under the heat lamp.
The whole thing doesn’t make sense to me, i mean if they were that afraid of being sued why start the site in the first place?
I think there is an underlying reason as to why they are blocking canadian traffic.
working for riaa all these years your letter has caused me to suddenly see the light. clearly the way forward is to enter a state of world communism, in which through sharing everything nobody ever has to do any work.
1 references to this post
Pages: [1] 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 … 15 » Show All
Add your response