Have You Been Punked By TOTC?
Written by enigmax on January 07, 2008For the last four years people have been downloading the latest albums of their favorite artists, blissfully unaware that they have been modified. From The Pirate Bay to OiNK, downloaders have been getting unique versions, unavailable in the shops, all thanks to The Overdub Tampering Committee.
Almost everyone in the file-sharing community understands the concept and menace of fake files. Movies with adware or spyware attached or even music tracks that turn out to be completely blank. Fake files are always nothing but a menace – until now that is.
A group of musicians calling themselves ‘The Overdub Tampering Committee’ (TOTC) have just made a rather unusual announcement. For the last 3 years TOTC have been downloading newly-leaked albums from the internet and using them to create new versions of the tracks. They added their own instruments, and used additional production techniques in the style of the original recording, to create a subtle remix of the original.
Within hours, they then re-released the slightly modified albums back onto file-sharing networks and BitTorrent sites such as OiNK and The Pirate Bay. “If you illegally download music on the internet the chances that our work is in your collection is very, very likely! In fact, you might have a whole lot of us!”, they claim. In fact, ‘Polluting’ P2P networks with this music didn’t end the spread. TOTC have seen their works spread as far as radio stations. No prizes for guessing where they got it from.
It all started around 4 years ago, a member of TOTC downloaded an album only to hear that someone had tampered with it in the middle. This got them thinking: “What if this problem got more insidious, subtle, and widespread? What if there was a network of musicians who got a hold of albums right as they leaked, added subtle yet very much additional overdubs all over the album, and then re-leaked it to the internet?” That’s exactly what they have been doing for the past few years.
Even though the group seem to want to ‘pollute’ P2P networks with these ‘remixes’, they also dislike the music industry:
Attempting to police and punish “illegal downloaders” with lawsuits and fines is misguided and, in our opinion, a waste of time. This model treats the music fans as criminals. That’s an insane business model. But we expect nothing less than insanity from large, crumbling corporations. We do not know how the music industry will change in the next few years and we don’t know how a method will arise to ensure that musicians are properly paid for their recorded work. We have no solutions.
TOTC, who are all members of other active bands, say they have even released tampered versions of their own songs, and uploaded them to the Internet. “That was particularly fun for us.” they said. But what is the group’s opinion on file-sharing itself? They say they don’t think it’s wrong and download stuff themselves to test before buying on physical media.
So what was their motivation to do this?
“All we wanted to do was fuck with the treasure everyone’s hunting for to realign everyone’s perspective.”
We contacted TOTC for some additional information, but they haven’t replied so far. The Overdub Tampering Committee manifesto can be found here. (via Idolator)
Previously: Sceners Threaten to Destroy BitTorrent, “One Step at a Time”
Next: WeStream: Streaming Music From A Torrent File
122 Responses
That’s kind of cool. Good for the bootleggers.
This, is funny. I sometimes mess with the files I download, and then upload them as remixes. But these guys don’t note they are remixes, making it funny (if the tracks don’t suck) and not funny (if they do).
Wade
If you illegally download music on the internet the chances that our work is in your collection is very, very likely!
Bullshit.
Not a single example of where this has been done? I’m skeptical. However, even if this isn’t true, it’s a fascinating thought experiment.
I want a few examples as well.
Cool idea tho. for sure.
So i have FILTH in my music collection??!?!? wtf man…
I thought i was pureblooded…
Cool concept, I’d like to be directed towards some of there work.
Haha! This is funny news.
Do they only do new releases or have they ever overdubbed old albums? I might be hard to do that on a classic album, since many people would be familiar with how the songs go and they might recognize the difference.
Are you guys sure that this is real? Post up some examples!
I think it’s great! I don’t care if I have got TOTC’d stuff, If it sounds good then I am getting what I wanted!
get a life!
yeah this sounds bit like some bs…
[quote comment="257586"]So i have FILTH in my music collection??!?!? wtf man…
I thought i was pureblooded…[/quote]
lol time to pull out the torches & pitchforks eh?
seriously this is the most interesting article tf has come up with in a while
[quote comment="257605"]get a life![/quote]
agreed.
They should at least provide checksums for their supposed torrents. I doubt they’re as widespread as they claim.
Post proof or GTFO.
Err, I call bullshit on this one.
They present no proof, and have a blogspot?
Attention whores is all they are.
[quote comment="257611"]Post proof or GTFO.[/quote]
tbh how hard is it to get an unpolluted copy of an album online?
unless you listen to britney spears or DL on limewire ffs. Even if this was true it could never be that wide spread, there are just to many normal peeps who release and thats not counting groups who make it their job.
Get a life.
Looks like a load of shit if you ask me
I’d agree, this is a load of crap. Anything I’ve downloaded if I liked it I’ve gone out and bought the real deal. Everything from Avril, for my…er girlfriend >_> all the way to Godsmack, Fergie and even the Sweeney Todd soundtrack. I have yet to hear a single song that sounded any differant from the version I ended up buying. I suppose it’s possible that the changes these guys make (if they do make them) are so subtle you wouldn’t notice, but then whats the point? If as they it’s just for kicks, they must be really bored and in desperate need of some work.
In order to prove this claim they will have to admit to and supply evidence that would show they broke the law. They would have the RIAA on them in less time then it took to download a song. I don’t see any proof coming anytime soon and unless proof comes out I say thier full of it.
On the point of fake files and blanks, I haven’t seen one of those in 4 years, I thought the RIAA gave up ;)
what a load of crap.
those people should be shot in the leg for such bullshit like this.
Fuck them
If it’s true, and I have no reason to believe it isn’t, I just think it’s plain awesome. I think anyone who takes it in a bad way is just a jerk off little 12 year old kid that is unhappy no matter what, bitching about the MAFIAA, scene, and now this. This is genius, and the only way I can take it in is in the ‘Damn, you got me!’ way. Especially since I’ve always been thinking about if something like this has ever been made, to learn that it’s been done for three years now is just amazing. If it’s true, that is.
If this becomes more popular or a reality (That is, if it’s not already true), then I think that the only way of combating this would be through hashes. There would be hash databases that would contain hashes for various tracks in a certain format (Since, MP3 at different bit rates gives different hashes, not to mention different formats give different hashes, or different lengths of the same track) to which people could compare. Even then, it’ll ultimately come down to the person getting the music to know if the track is authentic, for that, the person must have had to have heard it before. Just imagine all those people who download music to explore different artists and genres, are they really getting the real thing?
Anyone who calls this out as a complete waste of time and say that they should get a life, why? The same could be said about you, you’re on the computer all day, bitching about spam, MAFIAA, and other seemingly irrelevant crap when children are dieing in third world countries, people are experiencing genocide, and are ultimately driven to questionable means of living their lives, only to survive. The TOTC, if true, are doing what they enjoy, that is music. How is it a waste of time? They seem to enjoy it, they have real jobs as well, as they’re supposedly part of active bands as well.
Get a reality check. Dismissing everything as fake is an ignorant’s simple approach to a complicated situation. Like the quote goes, “Ignorance is bliss”. If it turns out to be fake, it is still something to think about, and there’s no reason to question if it is being done by other people.
Please TOTC, release your adsense reports after everybody has moved along and this is not news anymore.
I really want to know how much money a well-crafted concept turned hoax blog like this makes. If attention-whoring the blogosphere can be turned into ad money, I might come up with a few myself.
THX K BY.
Just a thought: If people currently being prosecuted were actually in possession of modified leaks, then are they technically stealing “copyrighted” material?
Technically we’re being duped, which is fine with me I suppose, but it raises an interesting point in lieu of all the current litigation ongoing at the moment.
Someone call Jammie Thomas.. check her files. THAT would be the ultimate insult to the music industry! We’re sorry Miss Thomas, these are actually modified downloads by another artist… so now we’ll go after them instead…
You honestly think this was on Oink
GET REAL!
meh, this is so stupid it’s not even worth my post…. wait a minute…. i want my time back….
[quote comment="257652"]You honestly think this was on Oink
GET REAL![/quote]
Exactly.
I’ve never seen stuff like this. If you’re on a good site you won’t see this kind of garbage.
I had the exact same thought Viper. It would be great if she could appeal her judgement or even have a couple of tracks knocked off to reduce it.
“I have yet to hear a single song that sounded any differant [sic] from the version I ended up buying. I suppose it’s possible that the changes these guys make (if they do make them) are so subtle you wouldn’t notice, but then whats the point?”
That sums up my feelings pretty well. It would be an interesting social experiment if the songs were noticeably different that the originals, but if they aren’t, then who cares?
I guess Blaenk Denum cares, but he seems a bit easy to please, if you know what I mean:
“Anyone who calls this out as a complete waste of time and say that they should get a life, why?”
Because it’s self-indulgent, juvenile, and doesn’t actually make any social commentary though they are claiming it does. It’s also illegal and unethical to the original artists.
My guess is that you would watch Punk’d and call it genius because you don’t have a good understanding of the concept of genius, and you don’t have the mental capacity to be excited by real genius.
If you can make an interesting social comment based on these people’s project, then I’ll withdraw my criticism.
“The same could be said about you, you’re on the computer all day, bitching about spam, MAFIAA, and other seemingly irrelevant crap when children are dieing in third world countries, people are experiencing genocide, and are ultimately driven to questionable means of living their lives, only to survive.”
No I’m not. Have you ever heard of a strawman argument? I’m sure you have, but I’m also sure you don’t have any confidence in what it means. Look it up, and then after failing to understand it, have someone explain it to you. Then stop doing it, it makes you look like a coward for making up issues to address instead of addressing the real ones.
“The TOTC, if true, are doing what they enjoy, that is music. How is it a waste of time? They seem to enjoy it, they have real jobs as well, as they’re supposedly part of active bands as well.”
It’s a waste of time because making unoriginal, derivative copies of someone else’s art accomplishes nothing, and is offensive. If you think offending and ‘tricking’ people is a good use of time, then you are more juvenile than the 12 year old jerk offs you accuse us of being.
Speaking of which, my guess is that you are 15 years old yourself, with no girlfriend; but you develop major crushes (obsessions) with certain girls around you. When you try to do something that you think is clever or will win their attention, they just see you as awkward and a bit creepy.
You’re a Capricorn who attempts to project intense confidence to the people around him, but is in fact very self-concious; and you can’t figure out why someone “so smart” as yourself doesn’t get the respect and admiration that your softer-spoken, more relaxed, and in your eyes ‘more boring’ peers get.
You also like to throw temper tantrums, have no patience or self-discipline, and don’t shower as often as you should. And you are always trying to talk sh*t about the other kids at your school because secretly you fear they are all laughing at you behind your back. They are.
How close am I?
Bullshit, they are just making this up to make a place in this tiny world where so much great music is around for everyone to have and share. And this attempt was by far the most retarded one. Obviously the only band these guys are in and playing with is the ones which work outside Disney World in Paris. Dam clowns.
Christopher, to the point, stop writing novels.
I wonder if these guys are in the “Scene”?
well i think this is good cuz if they made a very subtle remix that you can barely make but still here then that would be a remix which would not be illegall since it is not the original copy of the disc
so on other words if we dl the disk and they sound the same we aint dl pirate shit
so RIAA can fuck off
So what would happen if they then said that there “Remixes” were available in the public domain? would that then make downloading there works legal? (Granted they still would need the author’s permission I would guess, but interesting non the less)
think google will give them up if pressured enough from the industry? i mean, who needs more youtube like legal nonsense. you’ve got a group of admitted copyright infringers and pirates right there. C’mon RIAA, this is an easy one.
Interesting idea, if it’s true – I’d rather not have the original artists vision modified, but interesting nonetheless.
@Christopher: Not close, and it seems as if you have a problem with me rather than my argument.
I guess I understand why it would be offensive, since people wouldn’t really be listening to the original work but some modification of it.
I was merely thinking that this would bring up a great topic for a discussion, but that didn’t happen and instead people easily dismiss it as false. What I mean to say is, what if it were true? What would we do about this?
wow this is pretty cool! They should next start at the central library in there worthless town and start rewriting all the books!
Yep, bullsh*t.
.. and if not… I hope they open themselves up to an Riaa lawsuit… downloading AND tampering AND redistribution.. there’s got to be an offense in there somewhere.
TorrentFreak, are you really this stupid?
Think about it.
You claim they released these on OiNK, yet you seem to be forgetting the basic rules of OiNK: no dupes and no transcodes.
That means that if the ORIGINAL album (untampered with) had already been uploaded (which it must have for “TOTC” to have gotten their hands on it), then it couldn’t have been released again or it would have been deleted. UNLESS it was at a lower bitrate than the original, which it HAD TO HAVE BEEN since they are apparently re-encoding the files with their added input. Of course, that makes it a transcode, and an already-lower-quality bitrate that’s transcoded is INCREDIBLY easy to spot, as their quality is audibly worse.
Do you honestly think that at an audiophile-infested and music elitist site like OiNK, they couldn’t tell when there was a transcoded low-quality bitrate with crappy remixed music not from the original?
Bullshit.
thats hilarious
If the music still sounds good, and I still like it, then good for them! Just dont screw up good songs by making them bad.
To the people calling fake:
Even if it is, its too late. The idea is out, and I personally think its hilarious. Helloooooo tainted tunes. :D
Meh.. won’t effect anyone on a good torrent site. This garbage will just be removed.
wat a bunch of faggots ruining music
wat a bunch of nerds with no lifes fucking with music if theyre even really doing it which i doubt they are but either way theyre fucking retarded
It is a neat idea for sure, but anyon can claim they have done this. The question is…
Where is the proof?
I don’t believe this.
No names, no proof.
No screenshots of spectrals of modified files.
Lot of uploads on OINK were posted with actual proof of the original disc. I also was a FLAC/V0-ripper of promo’s and like said before reuploading it would make it a dupe and not allowed on OINK.
And one thing 4 sure. The NIM albums, remixes were original :-)
Yeah, I don’t buy it. I guess this “news” is some sort of concept art by itself.
[quote comment="257765"]TorrentFreak, are you really this stupid?
Think about it.
You claim they released these on OiNK, yet you seem to be forgetting the basic rules of OiNK: no dupes and no transcodes.
That means that if the ORIGINAL album (untampered with) had already been uploaded (which it must have for “TOTC” to have gotten their hands on it), then it couldn’t have been released again or it would have been deleted. UNLESS it was at a lower bitrate than the original, which it HAD TO HAVE BEEN since they are apparently re-encoding the files with their added input. Of course, that makes it a transcode, and an already-lower-quality bitrate that’s transcoded is INCREDIBLY easy to spot, as their quality is audibly worse.
Do you honestly think that at an audiophile-infested and music elitist site like OiNK, they couldn’t tell when there was a transcoded low-quality bitrate with crappy remixed music not from the original?
Bullshit.[/quote]
omfg pwned
sometimes i photoshop my self into pornos in 3D
This honestly sounds like a ploy by the RIAA to get people to start buying ‘physical media’ again and to try and put an end to file sharing…
Think about it.
To be honest, I’d rather download a version that someone else tweaked (as long as it doesn’t ruin the actual “sound” of the music). It raises the fun question of, after modification, the music I’ve downloaded is still “copyrighted”, as it isn’t the same music owned by the artists that created it anymore.
Their egos and self congratulatory masturbation astounds. Don’t let them fool you.
My bullshit and attention whore meter both simultaneously just hit 11. Give proof, or STFU.
[quote comment="257885"]sometimes i photoshop my self into pornos in 3D[/quote]
^ LOL
fuckin gewfs
Horse shit
no proof ?! no music file ? no video ? no checksums ?! hell yea i was downloading the pron th last 5 years and modified it all, the pussys are just photoshoped pictures of my ass haha !!!! and all the dicks you see are just different versions of mine !!!
I’m open to the music I listen to not being 100% the original artist. If I hear about an artist from a friend, get some of “their” stuff, and like what I hear, does it matter if my friend calls out that the songs I like have been tampered with?
Besides, these people don’t sound as if they’re altering, just overdubbing existing stuff with their own rendition–which could very well be the exact same notes.
Two people noted something I noticed as well; these tracks are no longer copyrighted material if they have been altered x% (I forget the actual number, is it 15%?) from the original recording. Surely MP3 compression takes up a couple percent, and some bitrates more than others.
Many of you act as though the music has been “ruined” by this–if it’s happened at all. It can’t be worse than streaming some 128kbps crap of an excellent, originally high-fidelity song that makes brilliant use of dynamics.
I like to steal works of art and paint Waldo in the background before I return them. I am too cool, Just like these guys!
So this is why so many current album releases sound like ass – I thought I might have fallen out of touch with the mass released, over produced, formulaic crap that passes for music these days *whew*
LOL
If it is true, it must surely impact poorly on the original artists (and then in turn the RIAA and other such bodies).
There are people out there who download albums to try them out before buying them… what are the chances the remixed versions don’t appeal to you but the original would, but since you only heard the remixed version your mind is made up and you don’t go and buy the album.
Nevermind the fact that such remixes are also a breach of copyright!
its like in old days of video tapes where u add porn to the movie
[quote comment="257905"]My bullshit and attention whore meter both simultaneously just hit 11. Give proof, or STFU.
[quote comment="257885"]sometimes i photoshop my self into pornos in 3D[/quote]
^ LOL[/quote]
^
ROFLMAO
Seriously! ‘Photochopping’ yourself into p0rn and uploading it again over a period of years would be mighty brave! But HEY you could get NOTICED! “Who’s that dude? I haven’t had him in my studio before…” LOL.
Or u could at least convince a few people that you’re a p0rn star!!
this is a pretty weak load of BS.
torrentfreak should remove this “article” which is just an ad in disguise. tsk. for shame.
So they just admitted to downloaded copyright material. If as widespread as they claim, over a span of a few years, leaving a tell-tale sign behind… Sounds like someone owes money to the MAFIAA. No?
From the “Manifesto”
…It would be bewildering.
It would be irksome.
It would be annoying.
We set out to make that specific bewildering, annoyance a possibility…
It’s so annoying no one has even noticed it in 3 years. Damn that is a bitch.
*clank*
That’s the torrentfreak news quality hitting the bottom.
OOoh. now the RIAA CAN GET THEM FOR ILLEGALZ TAMPERING AND DISTRIBUTION! HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
Would it not be possible to sue them, they made their own evidence.
I’m up for donating some money to sue them.
OiNK had a pretty severe quality control and a lot of the users knew their shit, I doubt this would have gone by unnoticed…
BS
You know; I generally wouldn’t give two shits, and a fuck; until I read this:
“All we wanted to do was fuck with the treasure everyone’s hunting for to realign everyone’s perspective.”
Realign what perspective? From what, to where? Why do we need ‘aligning’?
What a crock.
If you want to mess with people; more power to you.
Just don’t drop in some pseudo-intellectual bullshit, because you want to justify what you’re doing.
Oh, and the only real existence of them on the web only goes back to maybe December, 2007.
All the rest, (including their official blog) is dated January 1st.
So I’m going to call shenanigans.
I think it’s another viral marketing/attention seeking whore.
Look man. It’s ART. Stop being so LITERAL.
If this is actually true, all the people sued by the RIAA might have a valid defense that they did not in fact illegally acquire copies of the music. The dnldrs only obtained copies of derivative artworks, which is not illegal. TOTC is guilty of illegally acquiring copies of the music.
I didn’t take TorrentFreak as an playground for what I want to call “LOL-News” now if you want to keep your visitors, don’t write articles with no fucking actually proof in them what so ever.
Also as many above stated, just because people rip there albums following guides and standards in order to share them on private trackers that doesn’t mean something like this would go UNNOTICED because we aren’t living in the stone age, and we are fucking good at what we do.
Those who “steal” and “share”, we, don’t just “give and take”, we want the ACTUAL stuff so we have found ways to know if it’s the real stuff or not, and these jokers like TOTC or RIAA and so, well they can try and try, the only outcome will be WE finding a way to make sure what we share and take and do what the fuck we please to do with in more artificial ways, so thank you TorrentFreak for this bullshit peace of crap, the result of this will be something new implanted for checking checksums and logs and so on and so on, in the end we keep improving and involving to something better and those who don’t like it will understand they can’t solve the issue, so they better start to think to rebuild this industry and adjust it to what is THE WORLD as it’s, can’t keep living in the past, everything will get more and more based on the rules technology, which mean adjust and involve or evaporate retarded-fuck-bags.
publicity stunt
torrentfreak this is jsut embarrassing. at least get some proof, hell theyve been doing this for ‘years’ that must surely mean they have hundreds of these crappy torrents on sites. Surely they could provide the link to just one?
If this was true lets bring it down into perspective:
If they put it on pirate bay noone would download it because a more heavily seeded torrent of equal or higher quality would already be there.
If they put it on oink after the original, im pretty sure they would have called bullshit.
Limewire lol. Limewire is full of crap, including a dodgy bill clinton impersonation advertising a pyramind scheme. I have once or twice downloaded a file which has been tampered with on limewire but it was in no way subtle.
And double lol at them saying theyve put zipped folders on yousendit and the other one. Noone in their right mind downloads zip files which say they are something on that, unless they got it from a links site.
And their attempt at sounding intellectual is pretty laughable there’s one or two parts where their grammar is appaling.
Also triple lol at all the people replying trying to match their attempt at being intellectual ‘ah ha what a clever idea which really perpetuates societies reliance on the honesty or a community over a multi million dollar corporation due to the negative connotations perpetuated by said corporations’.
Blatant fake
Fantastic, so these assclowns come up and say they’ve overdubbed a metric fuckton of albums, we all start questioning our MP3 collections and dump a ton of albums, the RIAA gets a big old laugh at our expense and the world just keeps on turnin’?
Fuck that and fuck these MAFIAA attention whores.
Pretending that this story is legit for a moment … according to recent news reports, physical CD sales are down and digital downloads are up. Sounds to me like the major labels should hire these clowns as producers*.
(*if they were real.)
I know my shit is authentic.
I call shenanigans on this, absolutely no proof to these claims whatsoever. Still they’ve got their 15 minutes of fame on here with this nonsense.
thank god for logs and accuraterip. :]
you guys are missing what they are doing. you are taking the “remix” too far.
these people are only making subtle changes to the files. too subtle for anyone to hear. thats why you all think that your files are still authentic. i bet the files cant be distinguished from the originals.
this was merely a study for them. they put their stuff out and wanted to see if anyone noticed. noone did. they win. haha.
quit bitching and complaining cause you guys got had. we all did. bravo TOTC.
[quote comment="258344"]you guys are missing what they are doing. you are taking the “remix” too far.
these people are only making subtle changes to the files. too subtle for anyone to hear. thats why you all think that your files are still authentic. i bet the files cant be distinguished from the originals.
this was merely a study for them. they put their stuff out and wanted to see if anyone noticed. noone did. they win. haha.
quit bitching and complaining cause you guys got had. we all did. bravo TOTC.[/quote]
you seem to be missing that people understand that.
everyone is saying its easy to spot transcodes (they were really strict about them on oink) and this would have had to be one, so even if you couldnt tell the difference it would still be pulled.
Its bs, hence why theres no evidence of any of their 3 years work, i mean they could post the link to one.
And jsut because they wrote the article pseudo-intelligently does not mean its a study.
Download era vulgaris by QOTSA, then buy it. compare.
year zero, by NIN,
pull the pin by stereophonics. see if you can find any differences to legal versions…
on the subject of fakes, I keep getting the 3w encodes, and when I decode them they are advertisements for some stupid burning software. The only one that was an actual movie turned out to be “That 70’s Transexual Show”…I had to keep it to shock people when they came over hahahaha
Ha moron, for your information i have bought and downladed era vulgis. didnt burn the cd (got it signed) and have 3 different downloaded versions of the albums.
VAnd they all sound the same (albeit different quality, i went from 128 to 256 to FLAC)
I meant actual links please :)
You do realise that its not jsut one copy on the internet as well.
morons.
Haha! This is the best piece of concepual art I’ve seen in a long time!
They don’t need proof to make their point valid. In their own words:
“We set out to make that specific bewildering, annoyance a possibility.
We guessed that if this could become a widespread phenomenon it would really highlight one of the biggest flaws with the “illegal downloading” method of obtaining music. i.e You Do Not Know That Someone Hasn’t Fucked With Your Favorite Band’s Album…..All we set out to do here is jump-start a conversation.”
They have done just that. On this page alone I count 86 comments thus far discussing the validity/profundity or lack thereof of their “project”. Some comments even go so far as to suggest solutions to these “holes” in the “system” in question, while others declare their faith in this “system” despite TOTC’s claims otherwise.
This is in fact a debate, and you are all engaged in it, wether or not the TOTC’s claims are true.
“In conceptual art the idea or concept is the most important aspect of the work. When an artist uses a conceptual form of art, it means that all of the planning and decisions are made beforehand and the execution is a perfunctory affair. The idea becomes a machine that makes the art. ,Sol LeWitt, “Paragraphs on Conceptual Art”, Artforum, June 1967.”
not conceptual art, you are really stretching for something there. perspectives are not realigned, and most people will never read this story anyway, so it’s effect is minimal. This story will die and be forgotten and the fellows of TOTC get one or two good days to masturbate to their own “brilliance” for maybe, almost, kinda perturbing 90 or 100 out of the thousands using these services. Did they? Didn’t they? In the end, as argumentative as any of you get about it, you’re going to stop caring in no time.
TOTC succeeds at big upping itself. That’s all.
i think all the haters are missing the point.Even though this may be a hoax for attention the mear fact that it is now possible gives new light to ongoing cases.states burden now. i think its PERFECT!
art?
trolling, i call that…
The idea is definitely cool. However, without any proof it doesn’t amount to much in my mind. It would be awesome to inject something into a released file and then announce it a year or so later. People could compare checksums and post on a map where they are, and you could get a very interesting map of how your file was unknowingly spread.
Also, I seriously doubt modified copies of tracks would have appeared for very long on OiNK, what with everybody checking rigorously for transcodes and later comparing the leaked versions with copies ripped from physical discs.
The argument these people are making about not knowing what you are getting is like saying that Wikipedia is unreliable because anybody can edit it. While it may be true in specific cases, given enough users the system self-corrects while providing means for the casual observer to check the details.
I’ve heard some differences on albums I’ve downloaded and then bought like red jumpsuit apparatus and rise against.
“They added their own instruments, and used additional production techniques in the style of the original recording, to create a subtle remix of the original.”
Er… no…. they didn’t.
There’s only 1 person who’s been punked by this BS and it’s you enigmax.
I call Shenanigans.
It’s bullshit, unless you count 96k-128k fakes on Demonoid as signifigant. At most what they achieved was wasted bandwidth and an annoyance to a few downloaders.
Congrats, you caused more useless load to the infastructure of the internet, you’re all heroes. DIAF.
“Have You Been Punked By TOTC?”
Well, no, because the whole “TOTC” is fake. I seriously can say that I have never come across a more pathetic fake than this. That’s just some guy writing a nonsensical blog entry in a miserable attempt at internet “fame”. He’s probably looking to be on Wikipedia, or some shit.
It’s sadly pathetic that TF had to bring this up.
It’s now possible to post BS claims on the internet ? That’s new is it ?
It’s now possible to post BS claims on the internet? That’s new is it?
I want specific examples.
I think these cats are overstating the prevelance of their work. Unless they cite come specific examples, I am calling bullshit on this claim.
[quote comment="258571"]I’ve heard some differences on albums I’ve downloaded and then bought like red jumpsuit apparatus and rise against.[/quote]
Rise against’s newest album was different to the leaked version. Leaked version was unmastered and contained some diffferent song names.
prayer for the refugee was called diaspora i think
i highly doubt that any of my music is from this crap, they prolly only do it to pop music. if you ask me its a travesty to the file sharing community, fags
The thing is filesharing isn’t illegal everywhere, so these guys are just being dicks.
This is awesome. ART IS ART.
The only “fooling” going on here is this “news release” – anyone who believes this has been punk’t.
Clever – but these wannabes did nothing more than issue a “manifesto” -
Assholes, actually.
this is one of the most stupid fucking things i have ever read
[quote comment="257886"]This honestly sounds like a ploy by the RIAA to get people to start buying ‘physical media’ again and to try and put an end to file sharing…
Think about it.[/quote]
my thoughts EXACTLY, man.
someone, somewhere would notice it. i personally use torrents for “trial” versions of the stuff i DL. if i like it, i usually end up buying it, or an add-on to it or something to that effect. if it is music that i enjoy, like Flogging Molly’s new album “Float” that doesnt come out until March 3rd… i will end up buying it when the physical releases is out.
this seriously does sound like a ploy by the RIAA.
And this means that we are not downloading pirated stuff?
Certainly the modified stuff is not copyrighted?
Which means that TOTC is violating copyrights while the downloaders are not (unknowingly) ?
Which raises another question…
Are modified mp3 files (even if the bitrate etc) are modified…are they illegal – once they have been modified?
fuck these guys
Torrentfreak has been punked by noZZer _a.k.a ToTc
Riaa
deeply dissapointed in torrentfreak for this shit…
Not really sure who am i to pity the most – the fucktards who got this charade going or the dimwits who got mesmerized by the prospect and started second-guessing their music collection ?
why report this fucking obvious horse fucking shite ?
use your fucking brains you cocksuckers.
The bible is the most pervasive thing, it is written by corrupt men who sought to corrupt the mindsofmany and they have done a splendid job
I’m the savior you guysorgals have been looking for since ancient time
I’m a virgin, i am aloner, i am in touch with nature, and have done much to help everyone since my birth.
I know all, see all, hear all, and a perfectionist. I am never satisfied until perfect.
believing is seeing
I am here to offer my help to humanity who are on the path to destruction
I am the the solution to world peace
I will bring world peace through love, co-operation, and understanding of the world we live in.
oMG i read this a while a ago, and thought it was bs…. i just go duped….not by totce but Ask i downloaded 2007 billboard and every song is fucked up with little echos, one song is even longer and has a whole nother part added to the end….
Who cares, if no one noticed it before?
pwnt
If anyone knows anything about audio, you cant just remix a song from a cd. There is almost nothing you can do. Add a little reverb… OH NO! now it sounds a little more natural. Dumbasses.
THis group is just a couple of fucking retards trying to look oh so cool…
oh and if they added instruments, it would sound like crap (peaking wich would be obvious to anyone) or not be heard without compression, maximizing and remastering…
SO yeah, BULLSHIT.
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