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
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362 Responses (Add yours or TrackBack)
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What the fuck is with all of those who say that the CRIA has nothing to do with it?
[quote comment="180689"]i live in the usa. that is the land of the free. :O)[/quote]
Lol… I am amazed that an American knows how to live free. You cant step one foot into any state our all intelligence agencies have to know it. They have to know about your library ideas, they can tab in your phone without warrant. You can BUY politics. etc…
Of course its not the only country thats fits in this profile… but I am still happy that I live in a place were I can make choices! I cant wait to vote a pirate party when the European Community calls for voting again.
On topic.
I fully agree with the letter. I would like to add the cinema’s in this world. They are waiting for creating month / year standard fees. Its announced in the Benelux for years now. But it still is only available in the major cities…
I pretty much stopped buying CD’s over 9 years ago. Pretty much for the same reason most people have. One Britney spears is ok, but not 20 of them, as well as 1 Nsync is ok, not 20 of them. All music coming from the mainstream now is crap, plain and simple. Artists now a days do music cause it’s an easy way to get to the top fast, and then drop off and do other things. My main choice of music is Electronic and Metal. They are both on opposite ends of the spectrum but for me they represent true musicians who love the music not for the looks of the artist but by the sounds it makes.
To by~ you say:Deimos did nothing wrong not telling you everything that happens. You are not owed anything.
How wrong you are. As site operater and a public figure he has the duty to keep all properly informed as to events that affect subscribers. Particularly when he extorts money from people. Yes, he extorts when he says pay $5 if you’re below such and such an up/down ratio and you don’t want to get cut off. This may be an empty threat, but it is still a threat AND extortion. If an operater is not open AND honest with his clients, then i suggest everybody bail out. Deimos and Demonoid are not open and honest. I hope his site dies and he opens up shop in the US. Then he can have all the fun he never wanted.
Very well said.
[quote comment="180750"]To by~ you say:Deimos did nothing wrong not telling you everything that happens. You are not owed anything.
How wrong you are. As site operater and a public figure he has the duty to keep all properly informed as to events that affect subscribers. Particularly when he extorts money from people. Yes, he extorts when he says pay $5 if you’re below such and such an up/down ratio and you don’t want to get cut off. This may be an empty threat, but it is still a threat AND extortion. If an operater is not open AND honest with his clients, then i suggest everybody bail out. Deimos and Demonoid are not open and honest. I hope his site dies and he opens up shop in the US. Then he can have all the fun he never wanted.[/quote]
You are wrong there mate. As a [insert faux sounding job title] I have it from Scotland yard that they take threats to harm of subtraction of ratio or ratios is taken as a death threat on the Queen herself!. I shiver in fear that my ratio will succumb to the madness of all this,,,ohh the humanity!!
Wow. I couldnt agree more. Very well said.
[quote]How wrong you are. As site operater and a public figure he has the duty to keep all properly informed as to events that affect subscribers.[/quote]
He needs to do something just because he runs a site? Nah. And Deimos telling people what happens is not a term that people force him to agree to when they donate.
[quote]Particularly when he extorts money from people. Yes, he extorts when he says pay $5 if you’re below such and such an up/down ratio and you don’t want to get cut off.[/quote]
I suggest you look up the definition of extortion. Asking for donations is nothing of the sort.
Everyone knows demonoid is a public tracker. Everyone knows the ratio is often wrong, and meaningless.
Cut off? They don’t ban people from the site for a bad ratio, and even if they did, you can still use the tracker.
I’m confused. Under what legal authority did the CRIA shut down Demonoid to Canadians? Has BMG vs John Doe been overturned: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_sharing_in_Canada
Downloading and file sharing passively via P2P was ruled to be legal in Canada under section 80(1) of the Canadian Copyright Act. Was there new legislation?
Absolutely true, exactly as i would have said it. The letter describes me perfectly too, since i listen to heavy metal and only because of demonoid i actually purchased CD’s. Before i was able to find new bands and CD’s trough Pandora.com, but ever since they closed access to Canada (a stupid move by the music industry once again) I had to move on to sites like demonoid where i could find similar bands and listen to full albums to decide weather i purchase it or not.
Also i have to agree with most of the previous posts, there is too much focus on shit music these days. Now its all about this rap crap and britney spears, like give me a break… Well i can say im still a supporter of sharing, and fuck CD’s now because of this stupid move. I think ill move out of Canada to Sweden if this continues…
I would like to point out that the CRIA has made demoniod block canadians from using its site. but am I wrong to think that in canada we have the right to be innocent untill proven guilty?
The CRIA has made all canadians guilty of copyright infringment, I for one have yet to download a song using demoniod.
what about the people who use this site to promote there own wares songs from there band, books they have written, movies that they have made.
Where does it stop, if they get away with this then whats next, you will not beable to make music unless your signed to a recording company??
I find this action extremely disturbing not because I cannot go to demonoid, but because of what presedent it sets and the signs of our times.
I think that all the CRIA has really done is showen a ever growing number of people just what the bigger corperations are trying to do to us and leaving a bad taste in our mouths.
its not like they dont make the money, I ean they get money for every blank CD sold incase you burn music. they just want more and more those huge houses and big cars dont pay for themselves
It might be different if the artists actually got a larger portion of the sales but sadly thats not even the case
maybe next the CRIA will ask the ISP companys for royalitys because we connect to the internet and might listen to a song
welcome to the NWO
Pointless rant really. Using the word “crap” makes it sound unprofessional, and saying “boo-hoo” comes off as the rantings of a petulant 12 year old.
What you said.
Great letter, should be a fun read for the CRIA :D
HEHEH, Canadians get internet poker, but no Demonoid.
First deimos says Brein is after his ass. He moves to Canada. Now he is saying Cria shut him down. Where is he moving to next? I think this deimos person is a nut bar. He’s a paranoid jerk-off. He has delusions that the big, bad wolves are after his skinny little ass. They don’t give a rats ass about some insignificant worm. CRIA did not shut him down. There was no threatening letter. All you have to do is think about the whole situation. There is nothing in Canadian law that would allow CRIA to force deimos (or Dumb-ass)to shut off Canadians. This dumb fucker is lying through his teeth. Deport the idiot back to Yogoslavia. Screw that. Ship him to Iran. Then shut down demonoid, it’s like a bowl of granola - full of fruits and nuts.
Well the CRIA has put it’s finger in the dyke and their are more holes then they have fingers..hehe Hey, me Mr. Cria Man. How’s it feel to be stuck with your finger in the dam knowing full well that the whole damn, dam is coming down on your tiny head..?!!!!
Yes… action and agitation are the way to bring the decrepit old dam down upon their tiny heads….lol
we’ll see how long it takes some pinhead at sony, bmg ect. to figure it out… Anything yet..? how about now…? Still nothing.?!!
AHAHAHAHAHAH OOOOOOH AHAHAHAHHA
The letter is great, and I would put my name on it, but for one omission: you forget to mention that when you download, you actually get lower-quality (less-than-CD-quality) versions of the songs.
Don’t believe the hype!
I agree completely with this letter. I am not a huge user of demonoid but I am sick of the music and movie industries pushing us around. I have stopped watching American movies almost all together and I don’t listen to a single North American artists…at all…not one. Why? I hate it…it’s crap (just as the letter says).
I love Asian movies and music. I love “Gojira” (which got its first uncut release in North America after 52yrs in 2006!), “Battle Royale” (which has yet to see a North American release), and “My Sassy Girl” (a very popular Korean movie from 2001 that has yet to see a release in North America) and “the establishment” makes every move it can to stop me from getting these quality films so that they can push garbage like “Superbad” and “Shoot ‘Em Up” on us again and again.
Now, Asian movies have been making it…in a still very limited way…onto DVD (and even more rarely into theatres…when they do go to theatres its a limited release that goes nowhere near where I live). Now…where do I go…in Canada…to buy the latest Morning Musume single? Where’s BoA, Asia’s biggest music artist right now? What about Japan’s music queen, Ayumi Hamasaki? Aya Matsuura? Ali Project? Berryz Koubou? Hikaru Utada (apart from her two ENGLISH songs from “Kingdom Hearts”)? No where. You can’t buy their music anywhere (unless they do one song for a popular Anime series and the soundtrack for said anime series gets a release here…which is also very rare and usually has to be special ordered into stores because they are not carried in stock). I go to the music section of HMV on Yonge Street and I see Hillary Duff, Lindsay Lohan, and High School Musical CDs. So tell me CRIA…BRIEN…RIAA…where should I go to get my Asian music when the legal form of downloading music is taken from me (and I don’t have a credit card…which is a whole other scandal in itself)?
[quote comment="180775"]Pointless rant really. Using the word “crap” makes it sound unprofessional, and saying “boo-hoo” comes off as the rantings of a petulant 12 year old.[/quote]
Who the hell cares about being profesional?!!!! That’s their culture… We represent that average guy.. We say it as we feel it…. hah..!!!
[quote comment="180810"]First deimos says Brein is after his ass. He moves to Canada. Now he is saying Cria shut him down. Where is he moving to next? I think this deimos person is a nut bar. He’s a paranoid jerk-off. He has delusions that the big, bad wolves are after his skinny little ass. They don’t give a rats ass about some insignificant worm. CRIA did not shut him down. There was no threatening letter. All you have to do is think about the whole situation. There is nothing in Canadian law that would allow CRIA to force deimos (or Dumb-ass)to shut off Canadians. This dumb fucker is lying through his teeth. Deport the idiot back to Yogoslavia. Screw that. Ship him to Iran. Then shut down demonoid, it’s like a bowl of granola - full of fruits and nuts.[/quote]
Looks to me like you’re the one that jumped outa that bowl of granola… The only question is are you a fruit or a not…???
We don’t really know what drove Deimos to his actions. But we do know fighting the powers that be is not easy and I’m sure he has his reasons…
“insignificant worm” builder of the second largest tracker in the world precludes that…. of course ,easy for you to second guess….
Seems to me you’ve been laying in the bowl so long that you think everyone else is a fruit or nut too.. lol
Illegal Downloads are killing the music industry. Even though stealing music is fun, convenient, exciting, and free it should still be avoided.
Just go to the record store…Goody’s got it!
to pal. Nice avoidance job, pal. Do the ad hominem attack rather than discussing the issues raised. Go kiss Dumb-asses ring. By the way, you forgot to add ” your mother is an army boot.” Which she was. And tough as nails too. I repeat- CRIA did not shut himdown. He’s shutting himself down. Imploding. Get a brain and you’d see it. Stop being an imp toady.
Get with the program… Buy music you like direct from the artist for £5 an album when it’s mp3’s… If you *really* like someone who’s CD only get the dead media planet raping disc and share it!
I hate being a Canadian! They try to control what we watch & listen to…How is Canada a free country when the government & the CRIA decides what we can or can’t have…We have crappy satilite companies & crappy phone companies…The US isn’t allowed to use our air space to give us satilite witch ticks me off big time because I can’t get the channel soapnet or the Lifetime channel…My mother went through the 9 months of pregnancy & labour to have me & she doesn’t tell me what I can or can’t watch so what gives the gov & the CRIA the right to control me…They can take there music & every thing & stick it! I own a radio & a tape recorder & a VCR still…I will not be purchasing any thing else of that nature…Screw the gov & the CRIA!
I don’t by music even if I like the band because most of the money goes to the label not the artist. Don’t believe Google, Courtney does the math.
I am not a fan of Radiohead, but I applaud them and the fans that support their new album. Finally, finally someone got it right. In the 21st century record companies are obsolete.
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