Artist Releases Album Exclusively on Demonoid
Written by Ernesto on June 07, 2008When Nine Inch Nails decided to give away their latest album for free, the news soon spread all over the Internet. However, NiN was not the first, nor will they be the last. Tens and thousands of artists share their music on Demonoid, The Pirate Bay, Mininova and other BitTorrent sites. We got in touch with one of them to find out why.
Xihilisk is one of the many artist who use BitTorrent as one of their main distribution platforms, and for a good reason. BitTorrent makes it possible to reach millions of people at once, at zero cost.
Being a dedicated user of Demonoid, Xihilisk is used to sharing his (and probably others) music. His previous 10 albums are all available for free on BitTorrent. However, he decided to release his latest album “EPTwo Special Edition”, exclusively on the popular BitTorrent tracker Demonoid.
This move seems to be counterintuitive, since an exclusive release on Demonoid will limit the audience. On the other hand, the album wont be exclusive for a long time. In fact, it’s the nature of p2p and BitTorrent that such releases soon spread to other sites.
We got in touch with Xihilisk to find out what motivates artists like himself to share their music on BitTorrent.
TF: Why did you decide to exclusively release your new album on Demonoid?
Xihilisk: I’ve been with Demonoid for a few years, and its always been the first place I go to look for something. I’ve been a member of quite a few other private trackers, and still am, but Demonoid has lots of obscure stuff I haven’t found anywhere else.
In terms of it suitability for this release, it has a large user base, and a decent community that seem genuinely interested in listening to music they’ve never heard of.
TF: What are the benefits of sharing your music on BitTorrent for artist like yourself?
I’ve always given away my music for free. I used to burn off a load of CDRs and hand them out to random people and leave them lying around places, then came myspace, and then the explosion of BitTorrent use. It seemed like the next logical step.
I was using torrents for a long time before I realized that if people can share major artists via the medium, then why can’t I share my own music. Of course, I knew that quite a few people were already doing this, but its still the most exciting and effective way for me to get my music to people who never would have found it otherwise.
TF: What do you think of the RIAA, and the big music labels, for going after their own customers?
Xihilisk: Fuck the RIAA. It sickens me when I hear about somebody getting fined a tonne of cash for downloading a couple of songs off LimeWire (and sharing them probably without even knowing they were). I understand that copyright infringement exists, but destroying someone’s life just for getting a few songs off the internet is disgraceful.
What I find most ironic is that you can share thousands of death metal albums online and you’ll almost certainly never find trouble, but share one Lionel Richie track and they’ll nail you to a wall.
TF: Do you think the music industry will change in let’s say the next 5 years? How do you want it to be?
Xihilisk: 5 years? What music industry? Hopefully, there will only be music.
The Internet is rapidly leveling the playing field for all musicians. I’d like to see it where all money hungry labels go out of business, and a true DIY ethic takes over. You want to get your band noticed? Make really good music and the internet will do the rest. You want to make money? Play a load of gigs or forget it.
Trying to get signed these days is a lost cause. Yes iTunes is doing well, and who knows what tricks the record companies have up their sleeves to stop people getting music illegally, but the fact is that now you’re very lucky if you can make a living from being an artist.
I’m more than happy with that fact that many thousands of people have downloaded my albums legally, for free. And maybe even listen to them!
TF: Thanks, we wish you all the best.
For those who want to check it out, the album can be downloaded at Demonoid. Xihilisk describes his as experimental indie/electronica, with a hint of chiptune, post rock, metal and several other genres.
On a sidenote, it appears that Demonoid has been inaccessible to Dutch users for a few days. The block happened after the site did some server maintenance, there is no official explanation yet, but we will post an unpdate as soon as we have more info.
Previously: Be Afraid of BitTorrent, Very, Very Afraid
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69 Responses
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Fuck the RIAA indeed!
Nice. Won’t be able to download tho, since http://www.demonoid.com has been blocked in the complete netherlands. >.<
even music artists are on the pirates side… the RIAA should give up already
Go Xihilisk! I love your perspective and attitude… kudos!
I was not familiar with you before reading this article, but I’m grabbing the album right now.
I hope you on to achieve massive success.
damn, it’s true. demonoid’s blocking all requests from the netherlands!!!
*update
bottom line
I bet those BREIN fuckers are behind it. I want demonoid :(
to the people in the Netherlands, by now the album has been upped to TPB, if not i will………
haha good luck with the album,
Fuck the RIAA!!
http://www.pccurb.com
I actually was familar with you before this article - I saw your album on demonoid, downloaded it, and liked it. I’ve been seeding it ever since and just today realized that there were many more downloaders.
We’ve got the artists coming to P2P - the next step is to raise awareness of these artists. This is essential, actually - things like Demonoid’s front page thing and this TF article are needed more to raise awareness of these great artists who want to share with the world. Sure, people will still download the latest corporate pop album, but these guys are the ones that need and deserve our support! They’re for the art and not the money, they all have my greatest respect.
This is some seriously good music. If you’re into electronic music, like Boards of Canada or such, then grab this now. Thanks to the maker of this music, a great thanks :)
It would also be good to note the two other bands releasing their music free on Demonoid,
Cold Electric: http://www.demonoid.com/files/details/1454501/14325541/
and
Nasdat: http://www.demonoid.com/files/details/1500368/23754378/
[quote]The Internet is rapidly leveling the playing field for all musicians. I’d like to see it where all money hungry labels go out of business, and a true DIY ethic takes over. You want to get your band noticed? Make really good music and the internet will do the rest. You want to make money? Play a load of gigs or forget it.[/quote]
fuckin’ A, bubba, fuckin’ A
(vote Ron Paul)
@2
Try Demonoid.cc
It’s a clone server, it allows me to go on demonoid at school :D otherwise, try Ultrasurf 8.1
> “Try Demonoid.cc It’s a clone server,”
It’s the same server, just different domain name.
Downloading now and will be sharing it with the mates if its any good.
Looking forward to seeing more news on liberated music from artists with a clue!
Props to Xihilisk
Wish Xihilisk well for his career. Here is to the day the four big record labels have to shutter up. They ripped off consumers and artists alike for years, but all scams come to an end. Let’s hope some SONY and BMG employees have their lives ruined along the way. Those worms deserve it.
whether i like it or not, im going to get this just yo support ya man! I love artists like you, keep the p2p artists alive and seed their shit!!
Major props to ya man, people like you are the reason the RIAA dosnt even need to exist, keep up the excellent work!
Sadly it seems that Xihilisk is a bit mad about the album being on The Pirate Bay. (See first comment.)
http://tinyurl.com/6onyfv
Not sure about how I feel about this. If you send out an album to people who are so used to sharing, do you get mad when they do just that?
cds ftw.
First uploaded more than 6 months ago !
http://thepiratebay.org/search/Xihilisk/0/99/0
This is just… advertising.
Anyway guy has to understand that once the stuff is online, there is no possibility of spreading control anymore. So no need to argue, there are no things such as “exclusives”.
no such things as*
and it was even on archive.org. So, lol at his comment.
http://www.archive.org/details/Xihilisk-EPTwo_657
In the Torrentworld “Exclusive” and “Limited” are words that do not exist anymore.
“Fuck the RIAA”
His ratio on Demonoid is 0.27 :P
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