Record Label Sponsors BitTorrent Site isoHunt
Written by Ernesto on May 03, 2009At a time when BitTorrent sites are increasingly at odds with the music industry and file-sharing continues to flourish despite legal action, new thinking is called for. Instead of joining the conflict with BitTorrent sites, Honor Roll Music has decided to sponsor isoHunt instead, one of the leading torrent search engines.
Awesome New Republic is a two member indie band based in Miami, Florida. Both band members graduated at Frost School of Music and their first album, released in 2005, was well received by the critics. Together with their label Honor Roll Music they decided to try out quite an innovative marketing strategy to promote their latest album.
In order to get the word out, the label booked a monthly banner advertisement campaign on isoHunt, and linked that to a torrent file of the album that everyone can download for free. By doing so they hope to get people excited about their music and eventually build a strong fanbase.
“As far as we know, we are the first record label/band to advertise directly on a torrent search engine,” Colin Foord, the creative brain behind the campaign told TorrentFreak. “We are sponsoring isoHunt with a banner that links directly to our homepage where the album can be downloaded for free.”
Awesome New Republic’s banner on isoHunt
In a music industry that is changing quickly, Honor Roll Music recognizes that torrent sites such as isoHunt should not be vilified, but turned into partners instead in order to reach millions of music fans eager to discover and download new music. BitTorrent sites have proven to be a stepping stone for developing artists, rather than a threat.
With a limited marketing budget the label can’t afford to buy ad space on all major torrent sites, but the isoHunt sponsorship is a sign of good faith and shows that they do recognize the value of reaching out to the millions of active BitTorrent users.
The latest Awesome New Republic album titled “Rational Geographic Vol 1″ is available on several torrent sites, and everyone is free to download a copy and share it with friends. Volume II will be released in July and Volume III, with a physical 3-volume bundle, in October.
Previously: MPAA Website, Now With Torrents
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46 Responses
Nice!
I’ll download it. Maybe even buy it. This is definetely a step in the right direction.
Ernesto,
As always, you guys are doing great jobs in reporting the file sharing issues. I just wanted to let you know that I really appreciate your outstanding professional journalism. You guys always seem to find very interesting topics/issues and bring to our attention to digest and analyze with our opinions. I come to your site several times a day to read your post and the readers’ comments.
Congratulations on your successful blog. Thank you for providing us with a flat form to express our opinions. All of you are doing great jobs. Please continue to keep up the great works. I am totally supporting you guys at Trorentfreaks.com. Long live Torrentfreak!!!!!
Much appreciation,
Khmuprince
If only the MPAA and RIAA will realize this….
Instead they are shooting themselves in the foot. The more they target pirates, the angrier they get.
As of right now, after all they did, I will WILL NOT buy any albums, games, songs, or even watch movies. Unless they stop going after pirates. Normally I support some small music bands that are in need of money and purchase their albums. But right now the music industry can suck it.
@Khmuprince
Would be a lot better if 99% of the info was not biased (sorry torrentfreak)
Ya it is much more effective to form an alliance that to be enemies. These stories are becoming more and more frequent, and eventually this tactic will stop working, but for now it is great.
This is a great way to start. They’re saving money by allowing others to share and distribute their music.
If I were them I would continue to promote my music and build up a fan base. Go on the road and tour playing to music fans. They could then keep most of the profits for themselves. They would owe nearly zero to laywers and record label executives.
They could then build or save up enough money, sock it away in a high interest bearing account that would eventually pay out monthly dividends so that if they wanted to they could retire. They could then simply retire or go on tours and perform not because they have to, but because they want to.
They could sell CD’s as a complimentary service at their performances and through the usual routes. But they should keep in mind that the labels are keeping the lions share for themselves.
Good going.
Bittorrent.com has always come up to the rescue of the small budgeted projects. Others following the suite would strengthen the morale of P2P after the recent hiccups.
I second khmuprince.
I appreciate the work of all TF staff. Every once in a while an article pops up on TF that absolutely saves my day. Those feel good stories really make me a very happy man. Keep up the good work guys and thank you very much.
That’s what torrent sites need. There’s gotta be a lot of music groups, filmmakers, etc. that would like to sponsor filesharing sites. If only a celebrity decided to do so!
And yes, Ernesto rocks.
This is very good.
Now not only Mininova and TPB helps music artists. Isohunt joins those big two :)
This site is not totally biased.. they cover both sides well. thanks for the great site! keep it going
@ Aid,
Well, always less biased then the RIAA supporters ;-)
@5: If it takes having two polarised biased sites to get the full picture, rather than being able to find a reasonably impartial site to see it, then I’ll deal with the two biased sites.
Given the MPAA/RIAA supporting major news outlets, TorrentFreak is no more biased, just from the other side.
Awesome solution!
This is fantastic. Go the indie labels!!
In the words of NOFX:
If you think anyone will feel badly,
You are sadly, mistaken.
Time has come for evolution,
Fuck collusion, kill the big five.
seeding on 100mbit
very good news indeed, and certainly a step in the right direction.
still dream of a day when the major companies use pay to leech .tor sites as distribution hubs.
Is torrentfreak biased? Of course it is! We are _for_ artists, not against them, and this article proves it.
Then again, I would like to know what DRM can give me that filesharing can’t… ;)
Just stumbled upon this fan-made video for ANR’s “Forcefield” (track #7) on Rational Geographic Vol. 1…
Talk about taking down the evil empire!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyLNHSVUWL4
DRM a bigger telephone bill for calling the help center to try to understand why you cannot play your music anymore LoL
Nice…those guy realize that it would be better…the same thing was done by Paulo Coelho…I hope things follow that path
Sweet! Much love to isoHunt!
Cool. This sounds very good! Maybe the big labels will follow suit in a few decades. :)
I’ve just downloaded it, and so far I’m really enjoying it!
The music is definitely something different, they have some serious talent! I will definitely be buying this, it’s brilliant!
what n00bs still see these silly ads/banners?
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@Aid – the difference is, TF actually looks into the issues. Sure, they are sympathetic to filesharing, but on the other hand, mainstream media only ever regurgitates RIAA/MPAA press releases.
@27
The majority of users will see those banners, lol. Never underestimate the power of Default!
@Bias Debate
Have a look at the wording in TF articles too. A good news article should have very little if any bias, the articles themselves are not supposed to have opinions embedded in them to prevent bias. The true test of TF would be whether it could post an article of an event that would be viewed negatively in respect online piracy if unbiased. What do you think it would look like?
I will say that compared to RIAA etc TF can’t be accused of biased articles, lol.
Another cool fan-made ANR anime video for “Kill South Beach Dead”…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lU9ACLU43MA
@4 C’mon man, it’s not a question of the RIAA/ realizing it or not, that would be irrelevant. It’s a question of their dire quest to stay relevant by way of being in a middle man position, which is clearly no longer possible. They have no choice in that respect.
It’s refreshing to see someone try a different approach, however I just can’t see this tactic resulting in any significant rise in sales for the band when the physical version is released. CDs are stocky, they get scratched. It becomes difficult to justify spending money on something that is so readily available for free.
I like someone’s comment further up, where they mentioned the idea for some sort of ‘pay to leech’ service. The only solution to the record labels torrent problems I can see working would require cooperation of all labels, and perhaps film distributors as well. Between them, set up a legit torrent site; offer all films and CDs for download as P2P torrents, as freely as they are now – we can keep them forever, etc – and charge each user a monthly fee to access the service. Perhaps set up different total download limits, depending on how much each user wants to pay – basic or premium membership, say. A share of revenues would go to each record label. That could be a lot of revenue – millions of torrent downloaders all paying $20 a month.
Just imagine – this service could have perfect rips of everything, perfect quality, no fear of persecution for users, no corrupt files, no viruses because all the files come straight from the companies. I know I’d pay for it.
Fantastic!
I wonder how long it will take for the RIAA to realise that this is the way forward?
great news, will download it for support
‘great news, will download it for support’
You will only support them if you buy it.
Good on them for taking this route, I hope many people buy thier music.
OMGosh now that is pretty cool dude!
RT
anonymity.ru.tc
I don’t think they need hate the torrent sites, i think if they released a few songs or a demo on torrents. People can see what its like, and then as to what they think is right either download it or go to their favorite music store and buy it.
Sure TorrentFreak is biased for file-shares. It’s quite refreshing, really, to see file-sharing from this perspective. If you want pro MAPP/RIAA stuff just got to their site!
Im not pro-RIAA and of course I download music. But I always thought that now would be the best time to re-introduce records and tapes to fight piracy. Go back to analog music and 1970’s prices.
‘Im not pro-RIAA and of course I download music. But I always thought that now would be the best time to re-introduce records and tapes to fight piracy. Go back to analog music and 1970’s prices.’
Absolutely. The last CD I bought was for 25c from a garage sale. Honestly, thats about the value I apply to that media now. 1970’s prices are where its at.
The problem is, the mass-buying market for music aren’t interested in the superior sound quality found with records, which are, unfortunately, more of a hassle to play than CDs. I don’t think enough would sell.
Awesome o:
# 34
CD audio is over 1000kbps
this download is probably not even 320kbps, but it should still sound pretty good.
If you really love an album, you would want a lossless copy, like a CD.
So, in my opinion, bands _should_ share _all_ of their work, including demos and what-have-you at a decent quality, and leave it to the fans to buy what they like.
And make sure it’s available. We can’t buy if it’s not for sale…
# 37
That’s not true at all. Word of mouth is a huge promotional tool:
“What are you listening to, this sounds great”
This is the new ________ album
Interesting how industry trolls like Reasoned Mind never have anything to say on stories like this.
How very true:
“@Khmuprince
Would be a lot better if 99% of the info was not biased (sorry torrentfreak)”
The journalism would be a lot more credible in the style of an unbiased spectator, instead of ranting on like Jon Newton of the former P2PNet.
It;s getting to the stage where you go to ZeroPaid for news and TorrentFreak for opinion nowadays.
It is up to a label how they distribute what is legally considered their property. This is just a cheap publicity stunt to promote themselves
This is very good.
Now not only Mininova and TPB helps music artists. Isohunt joins those big two :)
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