Demonoid Aftermath: An Open Letter to the CRIA
Written by Ernesto on October 04, 2007In 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
365 Responses (Add yours or TrackBack)
Pages: « 1 … 5 6 7 8 9 10 [11] 12 13 14 15 » Show All
Let’s think this trough for a sec…. you get an access to pirated warez and now your bitching about the treatment the pirate master is giving you?
Boy this world is so twisted. You don’t want problems just go elsewhere or here’s an idea! Buy it instead! Simple.
All this nonsense about politics common give me a break. No one cares except those who got screwed by the nice little pirate, ho my! What a bad, bad person he is.
Sarcasm apart the fact still remains that you are for the most part committing a crime according to the various laws. Ok sure it’s not first degree murder but still a crime. If you do not agree with these laws from Canada then that is your prerogative but it is still illegal. If you make a conscious decision to commit those crimes then that’s your choice. Maybe there very little repercussions for those crimes, maybe not, depending where you reside. It’s a personal choice each one of us makes. But please do not lose the fact that you are, at the present, surely committing a crime when it comes to downloading content from p2p. Especially copyrighted material for which you did not get permission from the IP holder.
Or I could have just simply said: As a beggar I shall not be picky to how I choose.
to: 246 Oct 08, 2007 at 09:06 by Maybe just maybe
REGARDING:…”you are for the most part committing a crime according to the various laws. Ok sure it’s not first degree murder but still a crime. If you do not agree with these laws from Canada then that is your prerogative but it is still illegal.”
WRONG. WRONG. WRONG. In Canada, P2P exchanges are perfectly lawfull. Go back and read the posts. In March 2004, Judge Konrad von Finckenstein of the Federal Court ruled that it is lawful in Canada. Record companies and recording artists receive compensation through a levy placed on CD’s, DVD’s, tapes and any other recording media. Even if all you do is backup your personal data, you pay the levy. That is why nobody is afraid here. This is not the US where you can get your ass sued off.
Do you see the light now? Do you have a greater understanding of why we’re pissed off?
to sniper
You are correct. But this only applies to MUSIC. So for now if you reside in Canada and you are downloading or uploading passively (p2p) you are ok.
Unfortunately, if you reside elsewhere then Canada, in most part of the world it is illegal. It also raises the issue of shared peers from different countries who are breaking their own laws while you are downloading your stuff. Not a cleared issue but you can count on it to be clarified soon by the Canadians courts.
And yes it will get appealed, you can bet on it. These are just semantics. To load or not to load other then music etc.. It still a crime other then in Canada and only for music and personal usages.
I guess the point I was trying to make was that Demonoid itself does not see itself “Legal” or why would he have left is previous hosting country. So why would he be better than a two bit thug? And why are people here surprise?
This brings me to what my mother always told me: “if you can’t stand the heat then stay out of the kitchen”. I know it is very “cliché” of me but at 1:42am it’s the only thing I can come up with that summarizes my opinion on the letter originally written, not the gazillion responses. And I stress this one more time “my opinion” nothing more. Far from being the bible.
You know, it makes me sick. They try to go after people who download music more than they will over a murderer. Fuck, go after the damn murderers! Wtf is wrong with the laws?
A murderer can get somewhere from 5 - 15 years. A person who downloads a song can get a life sentence!
I know downloading is a big problem, but don’t you think its a good idea to get the priorities set right?
I am a big supporter of downloading music, if I didn’t have the ability to download an album and check it out before I buy it (I’m 17, so its pretty hard to get the 21 dollars to buy a cd : /) I wouldn’t have the 100+ CDs I have now.
So tell me, what makes more sense, spending 21 bucks on a gamble, or spending 21 bucks on something you know? I mean, come on.
I agree hole heartedly with the letter’s author :)
to post 248 “Not a cleared issue but you can count on it to be clarified soon by the Canadians courts.”
There has to be a basis in law.
The courts can only clear things according to law. The law has to be changed through an act of Parliament for this very unlikely scenario to happen. This is not going to happen any time soon, if ever. Besides, what happens in other counties happens in other countries. What happens there would have absolutely no standing in a Canadian court of law. If it is unlawful in Lower Sinovia, that is their issue. Their court rulings could not affect us. International boundries do have their benefits. Sovereignty is nice, is it not? So this whole thing is a non-sequituer. Besides, this thread is about demonoid and it’s current actions in Canada, not international law. It is not about what if’s and other fantasies. Maybe (to fantasize here), other countries should follow our model. It would free up a lot of valuable court time for more important things, like White-collar crime. Where billions of dollars per year disappear into off-shore accounts. Or corporate tax evasion. Or… you name it.
250 Oct 08, 2007 at 09:49 by Maybe just maybe
I guess the point I was trying to make was that Demonoid itself does not see itself “Legal” or why would he have left is previous hosting country. So why would he be better than a two bit thug? And why are people here surprise?
The deimos/demonoid thing is indeed very odd. There are a lot of unanswered questions. There is a lot of speculation regarding what deimos is trying to hide. please read post 202.
to Maybe just maybe, post 249. It still a crime other then in Canada and only for music and personal usages.
I download movies. My ISP sent me a notice from an american company that i was downloading copyrighted material. My ISP also included a copy of their very nice PISS-OFF letter. So, it appears that movies are lawful too. God, I love being a Canadian.
to sniper, post 252. I know what you’re trying to say, but you are not a moderator, here. No one is. This was not very nice: “Besides, this thread is about demonoid and it’s current actions in Canada, not international law.” You can alienate people who just may be able to help. There are a lot of people out there who don’t know what is going on and are very confused by it all. It’s all very good to imp-bash, but not the general public. OK?
To: Maybe just maybe
My sincere apology to you sir. There’s a lot going on and sometimes I have a hair trigger. I hope you understand.
Deimos is my Hero, DEMONOID IS AWESOME.
IMP for life.
Demonoid offers all you whining wankers a free service..read my lips FREE..so Demonoid has no obligation whatsoever to come and service your high and mighty Canadian asses..instead of complaining like Fernando Alonso why don’t you go and join the dozens of other torrent sites or pony up some cash for a Rapidshare account..free downloading from forums at your fingertips.
Now can the Canadians please shut up and leave the rest of the world to continue using Demonoid? Instead of using your pathetic nationalist fervour to run down a man and his country? And if you want servicing of your asses, ask it from people/companies which you pay $$$ for eg Apple, Microsoft, your own bloody govt etc. Bunch of freeloading whiners.
After reading post 240 I grit my teeth and went to demonoid using a proxy. (with my fingers crossed)
I then removed all MY uploads with a response to demonoids question to why I’m removing it.
I was polite about it, and will be uploading from another place other than that for as long as I am banned.
If I get any files with the Demonoid attachment I will not allow the attachment in my files. I will remove it and or add an attachment announcing my dissapointment that I’m banned from Demonoid.
I don’t want to just shrug my shoulders about this situation and walk away. This seems like the only thing I can do for now.
At last someone has put into words what i and countless thousand others have thought for a long time. The music industry has been on the road to ruin for many years now, and they only have themselves to blame for promoting uber-bland teen pop, while many bands of notable worth and something to sing about slip under the radar. Bravo mate bravo!!!
omg.
you should speak at high schools around the world.
music industry dies and then emerges just music. how it does florish and the people rejoyced.
sounds poetic man.
like a phoenyx it comes full circle. i love it.
when Tony Robins dies from money induced overdose. you will take his place as rightful heir to the motivational thrown.
death to the music industry, long live music \m/
goldenscreen says:
all you whining wankers
you want servicing of your assesfreeloading whiners.
Now can the Canadians please shut up and leave the rest of the world to continue using Demonoid?
I say: not blody likely you pommey bastard. Plug your ears and shut your cake-hole. Go away and enjoy Dumb-ass all you want, imp.
to: postimp-poster 257 y0ur1g0d
About this: Deimos is my Hero, DEMONOID IS AWESOME. IMP for life.
You have some real high aspirations there, boy. I hope you enjoy flipping burgers at McDonalds for the rest of your life, too. I don’t think you’ll get a promotion to chip dipper.
With increased censorship by the Canadian government and neopolitical groups like CRIA. I have found it easier to use a web anonymous surfing program? Which happens to allow me to continue to enjoy demonoids great site.
Hope it works for you.
Greatest post of the year.
Regarding my post in 225. I was at my friends place in North Vancouver yesterday and he’s on dsl. Guess what… He’s got access to Demonoid whereas I do not in Vancouver on broadband. I can’t say that I was really that surprised.
hey there. Any canucks out there? Is demonoid deleting Canadian accounts now? I am using proxy to visit the website and it seems like that my membership has been deleted. I had over 100gb uploaded and downloaded there. Demonmoid really messed up on this one.
Now its time to BUY an RS account.
[quote]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.[/quote]
you tell me how a single record would get sold without people hearing it first. that’s what radio is supposed to be for, but when was the last time you heard any good music on the radio? that’s why you have to dig deep to find good music, because record labels only promote garbage that they THINK people want to listen to.
enjoy your new john tesh cd
Excellently written, well said!
2 references to this post
Pages: « 1 … 5 6 7 8 9 10 [11] 12 13 14 15 » Show All
Add your response