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 2 3 4 5 [6] 7 8 9 10 11 … 15 » Show All
While I do live in Canada, a few minutes Googling and I’m back on Demonoid. Use a proxy like:
http://www.ultrareach.com/company/download.htm
http://zend2.com/
And stealing is when you deprive someone of something, yet the majority of downloading people do is for music they would not be buying anyway. 60% of the music I download I end up deleting, but the stuff I like I’m likely to buy and go see live.
To the Canadian music rep. You are saying what I’ve been saying all along. CRIA did not do it. I proxied my way onto demonoid. I tried to get intelligent answers to some questions. I got stonewalled. I have permanently disconnected myself from this site. As far as I am concerned, this whole thing is a figment of Deimos’ imagination. This whole thing is a lie. Deimos will not release this alleged letter. My apologies to you and your industry for the idiotic behavior that comes from this Deimos’ demented demonoid herd of mental midgets. Anyone who has a brain and knows a little about the law knows that this stuff cannot happen.
I still have peers with canadian ip’s on demonoid torrents. They don’t have the X or H flag, so they must come from the tracker. So the tracker isn’t blocked, only the site?
To industry rep. In re Merrlinnes spelling errors. You have a few in your letter as well. Just because a person’s fingers don’t move as fast as their brain, doesn’t mean that they don’t work for the government. I have friends who work for the federal government and they can’t spell shit without a spell checker. If they could find it.
Take a heartless (thug )industry out of music/movies/art!
tech further cuts out the crunch of monetizing Art.
heading Full-circle from beginnings, out of industries’ hands…. Bring on the future~!
—–
If i care to donate money then it’s up to me— direct to the artists only to support their efforts…
— Industry is dead or at best dieing :-)
BRAVO!!!
I think this might be the best letter on this topic I’ve ever read.
For me personally, what the CRIA and others are doing make me even more of an activist and want to get involved even more in file sharing.
Truer words were never spoken. Well done.
PS I would be interested in their reply.
Gary, read post 111
Very well put. Sadly, there are millions of people who realize this and it seems the only ones who do not are the record label executives. Respect.
Just to further add to my statement. I publically call on Demonoid to release any information to the public on this matter, so that it may be looked on by those of us in Canada can get a clear representation on what happened here.
Those of us who are in this industry and support P2P are very curious to see what the truth is, and I think Demonoid has a responsibility to come clean with what has actually happened.
I would ask that all those who have accounts with Demonoid, gather together and set a side a day without Demonoid, meaning no one seeds on Demonoid for 1 day in protest to find out what the truth is here.
Unless Demonoid releases these “letters” then this whole thing to me anyway is a complete scam to grab headlines.
TO: industry rep. If this is a scam to grab headlines, then it failed miserably. I have seen nothing in the mainstream media. We have been calling for the release of this alleged letter from the beginning. His intransigence in this matter is doing nothing but harm to the peer to peer community. But at this late date the release of any document should be viewed with a jaundiced eye, even if it is certified true copy. As a former graphic artist working in newspapers and magazines, I produced many bogus documents and pictures for publication. I think that the only way to clear this up is for Deimos to be totally forthcoming and forthright,apologise and then shut down and get out of Canada. We don’t need his type here. I am beginning to wonder about the reasons for him leaving Holland.
Deimos started something and it’s backfired. He has backed himself into a corner. There is no honourable way out for him other than to fall on his sword. Do the honourable thing, Deimos. Release the alleged letter. Then shut up and shut down. Move to another country. You are no longer welcome here. Our hospitality towards you is over. Leave, before it becomes outright hostility.
Alex -> True that documents can be forged, but those of us in the industry can verify the source and deem it true, or false, there are ways of doing that, as you know.
I agree with snipers response on this. It’s time that Deimos comes clean. I’m not asking this just on behalf of the users of Demonoid, but I’m asking this on behalf of those who support P2P in the Canadian music industry. We need to know what happened here. Deimos must publically release these “letters”.
[quote comment="180868"]its like musical civil war demonoid being the North and record industry being the racist South. Pay attention to history and see who is gonna WIN[/quote]
And the historically ignorant once again raise their heads…
The North had the larger armies, a Darth Vader-esque approach to casualties, and would sink to any level to defeat whoever they saw as an enemy.
The South consistently beat larger armies and continually stayed on the defensive, even when given the opportunity to capture DC and have Lincoln’s head (for which they would’ve bee well justified).
Go read a history book, preferably not one approved by the establishment you claim to hate so much.
[quote comment="180615"]Would you like an invite to OiNK?[/quote]
Yes I would like an invite to oink if you have one thanks.
Rollin_Jukebox@yahoo.ca
well said
To rep, alex, sniper. Right on, guys. Us canucks are a kind, caring, generous, sharing, even forgiving people. But don’t piss us off. Deimos has abused our hospitality. He has disrespected us and crapped on us and must go. We are not the idiots he thinks we are. I no longer care about the truth behind this event. Deimos has damaged his reputation beyond repair. Get out. Go to hell. Or in your case Deimos, go to heaven.
Who the hell the cares. So Demonoid is baned from Canada. Go to mininova, piratebay, isohunt, or any other torrent site.
The quality of music has gone down in MY opinion. The “music industry” needs to spend more time MAKING music than recycling, reusing and finding every which way to squeeze a penny out of music enthusiasts and teenagers
the is no LAND OF THE FUCKING FREE!!! DICKHEADS
I wouldn’t know about that, dribbler. I did all right in France. In Holland. however, they do charge for it. But that was a legal red-light zone. If you’re dribbling, go see a doctor. Penicillin cures a lot of things.
It is too bad that no one knows what is happening over in demonoid land. Being a closed society they leave themslve open to a lot of speculation. Speculations like perhaps deimos, supposedly coming from Yugoslavia, is paranoid about the government, our laws and being an open and honest person. Deimos, this is Canada. You have nothing to fear here. No one is going to put you up against a wall and shoot you. Release the letter. Release yourself from the hole you’ve dug for youself. Confession is good for the soul. Then go see a psychiatrist. You seem to have a lot of Iron Curtain, Cold War secrecy mentalities to purge. Or download and listen to some Marianne Faithful. It has been called music to slit your wrists by. Either way, be a man and end the bullshit.
[quote comment="181515"]It is too bad that no one knows what is happening over in demonoid land. Being a closed society they leave themslve open to a lot of speculation. Speculations like perhaps deimos, supposedly coming from Yugoslavia, is paranoid about the government, our laws and being an open and honest person. Deimos, this is Canada. You have nothing to fear here. No one is going to put you up against a wall and shoot you. Release the letter. Release yourself from the hole you’ve dug for youself. Confession is good for the soul. Then go see a psychiatrist. You seem to have a lot of Iron Curtain,[/quote]You’re soooo far off. Deimos started to behave in that way (to the outside world) as a direct result of pure first-hand experiences and the best of advice from people with more experience in the field! I’ve known him from before demonoid, and I know what he is like. Contrary to what many think, he’s an old-school scene member, he knows exactly how far to go with this. The reason you can still all enjoy demonoid’s tracker is because of his caution. Be thankful that he only reveals things on a need to know basis. It has saved him jail-time many times over.
at root regarding: Be thankful that he only reveals things on a need to know basis. It has saved him jail-time many times over.
You prove my point. He’s a paranoid nut job. The cold war is over. This is Canada. P2P exchanges are lawful here. There is no need for this B.S. Nobody gos to jail for running a torrent site. As for know how far to go, he’s gone too far with this. It is totally unnecessary right from the get-go. In another way he hasn’t gone far enough. He hasn’t gone from here. I repeat what others have said. He’s abused our hospitality. Get the fuck out, Deimos. By the way I don’t enjoy demonoid’s tracker. I bailed out permanently when he pulled this infantile stunt.
to:root@your.server
regarding: the reason you can still all enjoy demonoid’s tracker…
What sort of shit are you trying to pull? I’m in Canada and i can’t “enjoy” it. I can’t even proxy access it. Count me in as a supporter of the fuck you Deimos club. If he’s been acting this way for a while as you say he has, then he should drop those “friends” and their paranoia about the “outside world” and see a shrink. Deimos obviously has some deep seated issues that need tending to. Wake up, smell the coffee, get real Mr, root.
He’s everything BUT a paranoid nut-job. If a person like you would start, setup and admin both a bittorrent tracker and a torrent community and indexing website, it would last maybe a year at the most. Demonoid is not mininova or isohunt or torrentz or any of those, it is a famous and widely used tracker, tracking millions of TV-shows you probably didn’t even realize were tracked by demonoid’s tracker.
And it’s pretty clear you really have no clue what you would be dealing with when you run a torrent tracker. Go create your own, and we’ll see who’s still there about two years from now. Wanna bet it will be Deimos laughing at you, and not the other way around?
The reason the dutch law had nothing on him was exactly *because* of his silence where needed. The Dutch have succesfully taken down others, mind you. The site being in Canada is merely coincidence, having to do with cost, speed and offers at the time he had to move stuff around. In case you haven’t noticed:
The Internet knows no territorial boundaries, and speaking about ‘hospitality’ makes no sense whatsoever. Your claims are pathetic, and look like those coming from a drug-addict trying to get clean. I think Deimos will not miss users like you, and chances are pretty high he will get out of Canada in the not so distant future, but definitely not because of you.
Have you even considered what would happen if he’d be as open as you would have wanted him to be? Try and use what’s left of your brain; It would become mainstream Canadian news, in the end forcing him to get out even earlier than he’d want, and worse: Be sued by even bigger fish.
Unless you PAY him for the offered services, which you don’t and never have, you have no reason whatsoever to call this an ‘infantile stunt’. It’s pretty clear that YOU are the nutcase here, and it’s infantile to behave patriotic regarding some hosting spot. You’re a fool. Not worthy of my or Deimos’ time.
Pages: « 1 2 3 4 5 [6] 7 8 9 10 11 … 15 » Show All
Add your response