File-Sharers Face ‘3 Thanks’ for Excessive Downloading
Written by enigmax on March 25, 2009The term ‘3 strikes’ is well known in file-sharing circles – infringe on copyrights and face Internet disconnection. But every coin has two sides, day can eclipse night and evil can be countered by good. Free music service Jamendo continues the theme by shunning ‘3 Strikes’ and embracing ‘3 Thanks’ for downloaders.
Proposals for disconnecting people from the Internet are a hot-topic at the moment but they are surrounded with such negativity that just writing about them can prove depressing. But thankfully not all music suppliers want to be associated with such misery.
Luxembourg-based music platform and community Jamendo has well over half a million members, more than 100,000 album reviews and in excess of 17,000 albums on offer – all of them free to download. Jamendo lets artists keep 50% of the revenue generated and almost 100% of the donations received by the site go to the artists too.
In order to make a statement amidst escalating discussion on ‘3 Strikes’ regimes, Jamendo has launched a scheme of its own. Called ‘3 Thanks’, Jamendo has turned the music industry’s strategy on its head. From now on, Jamendo will send a ‘thank you’ email to anyone who downloads any of the tracks (currently around 200,000) from the site, while encouraging them to share with their friends.
Jamendo’s ‘2nd Strike’ will be signaled by the most active downloaders receiving not a warning letter, but a ‘thank you’ note bundled with an “accomplice kit” containing stickers and other goodies.
In complete contrast to the plans of IFPI (which plans to disconnect people on their ‘3rd Strike’), Jamendo will seek out their most active supporters who are able to convince a bar, restaurant, shop or hotel to sign up to the PRO service, and actually pay their ISP bill for the month.
TorrentFreak caught up with Jamendo creator Sylvain Zimmer who told us that he is delighted to be able to launch this initiative worldwide. Clearly Jamendo feel there are better methods of doing business than lobbying for punitive measures against consumers. But what should be done instead?
“We strongly think that the music economy is all about the relation between the artist and its fans : punishing them won’t do any good,” Sylvain told TorrentFreak.
“On Jamendo we try to make that relationship stronger, and we have seen over the years that it creates much more value, even for the artist though great feedback, donations, a large community/fanbase, loyalty and viral marketing. Our job is to make the artists understand that, and we have 10,000 of them on the platform now that do,” Sylvain added.
Sylvain told us that punishing downloaders will only alienate artists from their fanbase and make them less popular. “Maybe we have to help amplify that backslash, and make it the accepted standard to put your music online for free and monetize other revenue streams, such as concerts, music licensing, Jamendo PRO etc.”
Visitors to torrent sites will be aware that Jamendo artist torrents are appearing there more and more. We asked Sylvain if this is helping Jamendo to grow.
“Yes we have partnerships with Mininova, isoHunt and Vuze among others, and yes they did help us grow a bit,” he said. “I think what’s also important is the service for the artists, it is one of our advantages compared to competitors. We offer the artists that upload on Jamendo a very large reach, mainly via these partners.”
As torrent sites struggle to be accepted as a legitimate platform for media distribution, Sylvain feels that a relationship with Jamendo can be a reciprocal one.
“Through our partnerships, we also help them prove that their torrent websites can be used for legal content, so it’s win-win for everyone,” Sylvain told us.
All downloads on Jamendo are completely free for everyone, but users are encouraged to support any of the bands if they like what they hear. The Pro package on the other hand is interesting for owners of bars, restaurant and other public spaces. They avoid paying the traditional royalties and the money goes directly to the artists.
Previously: ISP Refuses to Admit Customers Are BitTorrent Pirates
Next: BarTor Enters BitTorrent Barcode Scanning Market
37 Responses
nice
Yup, Jamendo is pretty cool about this kind of stuff.
Nice to hear some do see the other way
Nice, this is a good idea, that’s a good solution.
Not like other media groups that wants only money.
I win jamedo’s collection in 8 000 more albums, more or less ^^
hmm i should check this program out..
im looking for a safe app to tell people to use thats NOOB friendly.. i dont recommend the crap P2P apps like the old days (kazaa, bear share, ares, limewire) because there full of viruses.. and the morons always find a way to get one.
Does anybody have anything they recommend?
Now that’s what I call music:)
good job jamundo
Nice article. I never really knew Jamendo but I just love their concept. I signed up right away :D
Haha, that’s bloody brilliant.
Can you see RIAA, MPAA, IFPI, etc… It is not too difficult after all…..
I’m sure IFPI will do everything it can to shut down this place because it is obviously killing music!!!!11
@12
Uuu i’m shure they are, they don’t wanna loose the people that hate theyr music, they want us all to buy all music, even if it stinks rat!!! lmaomgzlols…
the whole argument of downloading killing music is just so dumb..
there will always be the consumer ‘cattle’ that will buy into anything.. they have 0 ability to figure anything out other than putting in a disc and hitting play.. and that’s where the MAJORITY of the profits come from..
the amount of people who download is so small compared to the consumer cows.. its not even worth comparing. Now the next argument is that the next generation aren’t going to be consumer cattle (Which is very debatable) but so what.. the CEOs and all those money hoarding D-bags will have retired with there millions and then we can all get on to the next big scam they come up with to rob you of your money.
stop thinking that file sharers even come up on the money grid.. its just not true in the whole scheme of things.
let the downloaders be and continue your scam of selling people clones of absolute shit in silence.. you will have your money and downloaders will have there content and everybody will be happy.. so tired of this debate already its so silly.. people have gotten there perspective way out of wack..
This is COOL BEANS.
To Blah: I agree wholeheartedly. The music industry should get their heads out of their ass. The reason they are losing money is because they keep on pumping out the drivel, and the great bands are releasing locally and on the net, thereby cutting out the middle man (Recording industry) so the artist gets the money and not the shitty salespeople. Who wants to follow what those corporations tell us what is good? I mean lets all run back to Britney as soon as she has her latest comeback!
@14: I think you may have misread #12’s comment. I believed it to be and read it as though it was sarcasm rather than trolling.
Unfortunately, it is sad but true when it comes to the media cartels or any company affiliated with them, such as the IFPI. If it isn’t making money for the industry, it is killing their bottom line. They still insist on spouting (and the real trolls parroting) their line that every download = a lost sale.
This is what the technology needs, an open and positive approach. It proves it’s a win-win for everyone but the RIAA, IFPI etc. They are the real thieves.
Way to go Jamendo.
We’re continually scanning your catalog looking for the best of your content, thanks for existing and letting us get in touch with so many special persons that create amazing music.
Kademlia
FrostClick Team
its better we stick to the legal song sites and legal downloading sites for now and there are rumors going around that a super virus can attach to any music or movie torrent and screw your computer up very very badly and my friends computer crashed because of it music and movie torrents and guys remember music and movies must be listen or watch and than we choose the music
Wow, looks good so far. I just signed up =]
Last time a Jamendo-related story came up on this site, someone rec’d me JT Bruce. I’ll do the same this time around, anyone interested in prog rock should check them out.
Also, lol at ’shadowguy24032′ and his talk of ’super viruses.’ How do these people even manage to get on to the internet?
Hahahaha. Excellent rant on the torrent super viruses. Thanks for the laugh. :)
“a super virus can attach to any music”
Doesnt that include LEGAL music? tss tss… maybe your hairdryer had a virus too, you should scan your head, use the Grass-4Blades-Cutter, i heard its the best Lolz…
woah kick a*s!
well, they dont have all the ‘copyright’ bands so its easy to find some good NEW music.
Listening to this band called ‘The Rising hope’ punk/ska something…..its good!!
Jamendo and other sites like it that spring up are going to do much more harm to the IFPI than “stealing their copyrights” ever could.
Good work, music companies. You could have taken this route yourself, but apparently it was more productive to attack customers and lobby governments for new protectionist laws.
You deserve the steady collapse of your business and the shitty music it puts out.
FTA: “help them prove that their torrent websites can be used for legal content”
What a stupid statement – why does that need “proving”? It’s not an issue that’s in doubt FFS
@21: hahaha! that’s just stupid… you have no idea what you’re talking about. It doesn’t work this way: maybe there are way to exploit some bt clients or multimedia players to execute malicious code on a computer but “a super virus can attach to any music or movie torrent and screw your computer up very very badly”? LOL!
btw, nowadays, viruses are stealthy so that criminal organisation can use your computer for their business.
Has anyone posting about “viruses” in this topic ever even written ONE PIECE of malware (for experimental purposes, of course)?
Super-Viruses? Stop filling your minds with rubbish written by bloggers who may or may not have graduated from high school.
Anyway, the true “compter virus” that destroys your data or OS is a relic of the past. Most modern malware is used to spy on you or add your machine to a botnet.
So maybe Jamendo and any others who rely on Torrents for distribution could get together to begin suing the big labels/distributors who are attacking the torrent community.
Grounds for the case could be anti-competitive practices by the majors which are hurting other distributors of media ;)
Great idea, good job guys. :)
good idea! even the **AAs own ideas get turned agaist them! The **AA are flogging a dead horse with their LAME ideas
I use jamendo quite a lot, question for the MPAA / RIAA ? why should I even bother to download the naff pop music that they try to protect when can download, burn to CD for the car a hell of a lot more music for free,
AND
When I donate money to the artists, it goes to the artist and not to the record label :)
fffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff
this is a great idea! finally someone sees that they just need to change their business model rather then violently protecting an outdated one.
Download our album, we will thank you :)
http://www.jamendo.com/en/album/32849
4 references to this post
Responses are closed
All remaining responses will continue to be archived. Use the TorrentFreak forums if you want to discuss something.