Record Label Teams Up With What.cd BitTorrent Tracker

Ernesto
December 30, 2008
51
bittorrent,
music,
what.cd
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2008 will be remembered as the year when BitTorrent went mainstream, with an increasing number of artists discovering that it is an excellent tool to promote music. Today, in a sign of the times, Open Your Eyes Records and the popular music tracker What.cd have announced an exclusive partnership.

Founded just three years ago, Open Your Eyes Records is a small US based record label. Unlike the large labels, it doesn’t shy away from BitTorrent. On the contrary, it recognizes the power of these massive filesharing communities, and has started a collaboration with the largest music tracker, What.cd.

“Open Your Eyes Records and What.cd are collaborating to revolutionize the industry landscape by making it clear that P2P technology and record labels can work hand-in-hand to accomplish their ultimate goals: getting artists heard and growing their fan bases,” reads the announcement at the BitTorrent tracker.

Open Your Eyes Records will exclusively distribute new releases on the BitTorrent tracker, and it will keep the filesharing community up to date on the latest news. With only one signed artist at the label, the collaboration wont add much to the existing library of nearly 100,000 artists available via the What.cd tracker. However, it sends out a strong message that confirms the current trend that BitTorrent is much more than just a tool for pirates.

There is a whole new generation of music enthusiasts that have grown up with file-sharing. It is part of the music industry now, and it exposes people to more music than they would ever hear on mainstream radio. This is probably not what the RIAA wants to hear, or will ever admit, but music is more popular than ever, with notable thanks to file-sharing. BitTorrent has the power to promote artists based on their music, not on the strength and scope of their advertising budget.

This year, thousands of artists have realized that giving away their music for free can actually help them to create a larger fanbase, but it is difficult to deny that filesharing makes it harder for record labels to hype mediocre content. However, music itself is more alive than ever before.

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http://www.intensedebate.com/people/Roze Roze

BitTorrent and P2P in general can obviously break the hold of the big industry (which the MAFIAA represents) on culture, and hand over control to the people – of course, it is the obvious reason that the MAFIAA hates it. Copyright, after all, is the law that is used to regulate what people do with non-concrete ideas and thoughts that they "own," forbidding people to do what they want with ideas and thoughts, like memorizing songs and performing them. In other words, copyright is obviously there to police what people do with certain thoughts that they "own," with the intention of maintaining their hold on culture, and preventing BitTorrent &c. from breaking their hold – and it would require nothing less than a MAFIAA Gestapo to do so.
http://www.intensedebate.com/people/Binsy Binsy

Bands and artists have been releasing music on What.cd for ages, I dont see why this is apparently so important. I thought bittorrent was making record labels increasingly redundant as it completely redefined music distribution and took control away from the record labels. Is there any point in still keeping the middle men? How are they making money?

This is what What.cd says about the label: "Open Your Eyes Records is a company built by musicians, for musicians. It strives to make their artists everything they should be to the public and themselves, without taking a big piece of the cake. This is contrary to the philosophy of many of the current independent labels and all of the major label juggernauts because Open Your Eyes Record has a unique vision."

I'd love to actually know how they're working this…
- http://intensedebate.com/people/Roze Roze
  
  I think that there still might be a way for them to have a purpose, though: to be something like a non-profit artists' collective organization and representation.
- http://www.intensedebate.com/people/Roze Roze
  
  I think that there still might be a way for them to have a purpose, though: to be something like a non-profit artists' collective organization and representation, and to which artists can belong to more than one such organization.
  - Foze
    
    BitTorrent and P2P in general can obviously break the hold of the big industry (which the MAFIAA represents) on culture, and hand over control to the people – of course, it is the obvious reason that the MAFIAA hates it. Copyright, after all, is the law that is used to regulate what people do with non-concrete ideas and thoughts that they "own," forbidding people to do what they want with ideas and thoughts, like memorizing songs and performing them. In other words, copyright is obviously there to police what people do with certain thoughts that they "own," with the intention of maintaining their hold on culture, and preventing BitTorrent &c. from breaking their hold – and it would require nothing less than a MAFIAA Gestapo to do so.
- anon
  
  sounds like a bunch of hot air written by an overambitious kid. netlabels are a joke, they aren't re-inventing anything. call it what you are: a middle man. you aren't investing, you aren't scouting, you are just sitting on your computer uploading files.
jpayne10

awesome #1, more artist's against the norm
http://www.intensedebate.com/people/Roze Roze

BitTorrent and P2P in general can obviously break the hold of the big industry (which the MAFIAA represents) on culture, and hand over control to the people – of course, it is the obvious reason that the MAFIAA hates it.
Spotified

lol @ what.cd
Spotify is the REAL deal when it comes to music!
santoscrew

and with the freeleech going on, there will be quite a few peoplpe who will want to download and listen to it!
Gozza

Great stuff, now only if What.cd had some form of open registration.. or if I could get my hands on an invite….
nah

Theres no reason that these 2 worlds cant co-exist. The amount of people that actuley care about this is TINY (Im not saying its not a large amount) but COMPARED to the amount of people who dont care and will buy anything that they see..

See what I cant stand is the 1 track entertainment world they have made, I either buy into there hyped up crap.. or nothing at all.
Anon

1 specific genre of music I love that I listen to was found through piracy and my try before you buy attitude. Piracy allowed me to hone my interests and musical tastes so now I only buy what I know sounds good and what I like.

Remember to support the artists whose music you enjoy.
a/s/l

this is bullshit and undermines all the artists and labels who have wilfully put their music on what.cd without any big hoo-hah. why should this mediocre label be any different? what deals have been done with what.cd? has money changed hands (what.cd will obviously always deny this so there's no way of every knowing)? there's been many label owners already contact what.cd to potentially do a similar thing but without any response.

why the hell are we supporting record labels now anyway? who the fuck needs a load of money-grabbing middlemen to put their tunes on the internet?
Stalker

"exclusively distribute new releases on the BitTorrent tracker"

So, will they sue me if I get it from TPB (or any other tracker) ? :P
freetard

"Copyright, after all, is the law that is used to regulate what people do with non-concrete ideas and thoughts that they "own," forbidding people to do what they want with ideas and thoughts, like memorizing songs and performing them. In other words, copyright is obviously there to police what people do with certain thoughts that they 'own'"
—————————————————————————————————————————-

that is such convoluted reasoning. you sound like a babbling street corner preacher.
- http://www.intensedebate.com/people/Roze Roze
  
  However it sounds, you still have not disproved my reasoning. You have not shown how the reasoning was in any way invalid, so the reasoning still stands. After all, it is common sense. If copyright is about policing what people do with such non-concrete things such as characters or music, (like policing other people's drawings of such characters, or policing other people's performances of music), then it is very much the policing of thoughts.
  
  Just because you say that the reasoning is "convoluted," doesn't automatically make it so.
Lenners

Funny if they really wanted to get attention a private torrent site isn’t the best choice, I opened my eyes and saw nothing on what.cd XD
http://www.intensedebate.com/people/Roze Roze

"thereby robbing the creators of potential profit"
WRONG. You lose right there. Try again.

if fan art is or has been under a judicial microscope
FACT: yes, it has.

what you still haven't explained is how a film or a record which may be the culmination of many people's MILLIONS of ideas and decisions into a coherent, synchronized whole can be so cheaply and unfairly referred to a singular "idea" or "thought"
Yes, characters and music are thoughts and ideas. One can remember it in one's head, and one could potentially sing/perform music to other people. All of this is what copyright essentially polices.

no one cares what you sing in the shower or think in your head
If copyright criminalizes one's right to sing a song one has in one's own head (which, indeed, it does, and it has happened before), then that is definitely thought police.

your thoughts are as secure and personal today as they've ever been.
WRONG. One's freedom of expression is effectively taken away by copyright.

only someone far, far, far, removed from reality
The only one far removed from reality is you. It has nothing to do with "protecting" their hard work. It has everything to do with controlling what other people do with their thoughts and ideas.
- Roze
  
  BitTorrent and P2P in general can obviously break the hold of the big industry (which the MAFIAA represents) on culture, and hand over control to the people – of course, it is the obvious reason that the MAFIAA hates it. Copyright, after all, is the law that is used to regulate what people do with non-concrete ideas and thoughts that they "own," forbidding people to do what they want with ideas and thoughts, like memorizing songs and performing them. In other words, copyright is obviously there to police what people do with certain thoughts that they "own," with the intention of maintaining their hold on culture, and preventing BitTorrent &c. from breaking their hold – and it would require nothing less than a MAFIAA Gestapo to do so.BitTorrent and P2P in general can obviously break the hold of the big industry (which the MAFIAA represents) on culture, and hand over control to the people – of course, it is the obvious reason that the MAFIAA hates it. Copyright, after all, is the law that is used to regulate what people do with non-concrete ideas and thoughts that they "own," forbidding people to do what they want with ideas and thoughts, like memorizing songs and performing them. In other words, copyright is obviously there to police what people do with certain thoughts that they "own," with the intention of maintaining their hold on culture, and preventing BitTorrent &c. from breaking their hold – and it would require nothing less than a MAFIAA Gestapo to do so.BitTorrent and P2P in general can obviously break the hold of the big industry (which the MAFIAA represents) on culture, and hand over control to the people – of course, it is the obvious reason that the MAFIAA hates it. Copyright, after all, is the law that is used to regulate what people do with non-concrete ideas and thoughts that they "own," forbidding people to do what they want with ideas and thoughts, like memorizing songs and performing them. In other words, copyright is obviously there to police what people do with certain thoughts that they "own," with the intention of maintaining their hold on culture, and preventing BitTorrent &c. from breaking their hold – and it would require nothing less than a MAFIAA Gestapo to do so.BitTorrent and P2P in general can obviously break the hold of the big industry (which the MAFIAA represents) on culture, and hand over control to the people – of course, it is the obvious reason that the MAFIAA hates it. Copyright, after all, is the law that is used to regulate what people do with non-concrete ideas and thoughts that they "own," forbidding people to do what they want with ideas and thoughts, like memorizing songs and performing them. In other words, copyright is obviously there to police what people do with certain thoughts that they "own," with the intention of maintaining their hold on culture, and preventing BitTorrent &c. from breaking their hold – and it would require nothing less than a MAFIAA Gestapo to do so.BitTorrent and P2P in general can obviously break the hold of the big industry (which the MAFIAA represents) on culture, and hand over control to the people – of course, it is the obvious reason that the MAFIAA hates it. Copyright, after all, is the law that is used to regulate what people do with non-concrete ideas and thoughts that they "own," forbidding people to do what they want with ideas and thoughts, like memorizing songs and performing them. In other words, copyright is obviously there to police what people do with certain thoughts that they "own," with the intention of maintaining their hold on culture, and preventing BitTorrent &c. from breaking their hold – and it would require nothing less than a MAFIAA Gestapo to do so.
CHRoNoSS

spotify LOL ya ok buy into that streaming crap, when they traffic shape you and et all. YA and then i'm at the cottage on the road and i don't have internet what then , YA can bring a laptop or external drive with your music versus having TO DO what THEY want.
its about me having the right to do what i want wiht things.

ALSO p2pnet has nice article which torrentfreak hasn't retracted yet about the riaa/mpaa lawsuits, one user here broke and showed that after they claimed that the suits were stopping a huge list of new suits was started so its back to eggs for artists

the EFA was born.
motto
actors are your enemies.
musicians that toe the riaa line and are part of large labels are your enemy.
Fascism can be defeated by knowledge and communication.

When they traffic shape you , remember that is the true goal , to stifle YOUR ability to talk
http://intensedebate.com/people/lyph3 lyph3

So a small label nobody has heard of has joined forces with a private tracker nobody can get an invite to? Okay.. slow news day? I understand that there isn't that much news in the torrent world every day but this article is non-news.
- anon
  
  i agree. i have friends that have put out tons of (good) records and they gladly share it on what/waffles, but they've never gone for this cheap publicity stunt. they just share it like every other user. 1 artist.. how can you even call yourself a fucking "record label"?
Anonymous

It would be interestng to see how much what.cd got from this deal
lyph3's mother

you're just angry you can't find an invite. stop ranting.
- lyph3's uncle
  
  It's still stupid for a netlabel to release things 'exclusively' on a private tracker or no?
casey

i bet the riaa will knock on that record labels door and offer them something to cut ties with them – i mean, this person being their own label cant get in trouble for offering their copyrighted material for free on this network

what other choice do they have? cant sue them
No.

No, lol@lame advertising shills. Spotify is great if you don't want to take your music on the go, don't listen to the *tons* of obscure (and even not-so-obscure) music they lack, and enjoy advertising thrown at you unless you pay money. It may be the 'real deal', but it's a pretty shit deal.
http://intensedebate.com/people/NubCakes NubCakes

"If copyright is about policing what people do with such non-concrete things such as characters or music,"

characters and music are concrete things. I wish you'd stop rambling about record companies "controlling thoughts" as well as this makes no sense. The very definition of copyright states that it only applies to discrete and substantive content. People's thoughts are neither of these things.

"(like policing other people's drawings of such characters, or policing other people's performances of music), then it is very much the policing of thoughts."

You mentioned common sense before writing that? Please explain how policing a performance of music equates to policing thoughts. Are you suggesting that if you were to think about performing music then you would be prosecuted in some fashion? Performing music is a physical action that yields substantive products, a thought is not and does not – in fact, how the hell would anyone even know what your are thinking to "control" it?
- http://www.intensedebate.com/people/Roze Roze
  
  From Roze to NubCakes (who is increasingly seeming like a hired industry advocate),
  
  That is simply because lack of freedom of expression entails the lack of freedom of thought. Simply put, free speech, free thought.
  
  Thoughts and speech are as discrete and substantive as characters and music.
  
  Now stop being a Nazi apologist.
- http://intensedebate.com/people/Roze Roze
  
  That is simply because lack of freedom of expression entails the lack of freedom of thought. Simply put, free speech, free thought.
  
  Thoughts and speech are as discrete and substantive as characters and music.
- http://www.intensedebate.com/people/Roze Roze
  
  From Roze to NubCakes (who is increasingly seeming like a hired industry advocate)
  
  That is simply because lack of freedom of expression entails the lack of freedom of thought. Simply put, free speech, free thought.
  
  Thoughts and speech are as discrete and substantive as characters and music.
http://intensedebate.com/people/NubCakes NubCakes

Why the hell would they do that? You know, seeing as the RIAA only represents interests of it's members. That would be a complete waste of money for them.
freetard

"If copyright is about policing what people do with such non-concrete things such as characters or music, (like policing other people's drawings of such characters, or policing other people's performances of music), then it is very much the policing of thoughts."
—————————————————————————————————————————–

i don't think anyone particularly cares to police fan-art. i don't know why you keep bringing it up. if fan art is or has been under a judicial microscope, i don't agree with that. it's not important.

what you still haven't explained is how a film or a record which may be the culmination of many people's MILLIONS of ideas and decisions into a coherent, synchronized whole can be so cheaply and unfairly referred to a singular "idea" or "thought" that is then somehow the property of anyone who bears witness to it, to then rightly "share" to everyone in the world thereby robbing the creators of potential profit.

it is your own property in that you can remember it at will. no one cares what you sing in the shower or think in your head. you can replay a movie or a CD in your brain all day long. your thoughts are as secure and personal today as they've ever been.

people protecting their hard work through copyright has absolutely nothing to do with "thought police". only someone far, far, far, removed from reality would ever try to bridge that inherent gap in logic.

"intellectual property: the labors of the mind, productions and interests are as much a man's own…as the wheat he cultivates or the flocks he rears" judge charles l woodbury, 1845.
- http://www.intensedebate.com/people/Roze Roze
  
  "thereby robbing the creators of potential profit"
  WRONG. You lose right there. Try again.
  
  if fan art is or has been under a judicial microscope
  FACT: yes, it has.
  
  what you still haven't explained is how a film or a record which may be the culmination of many people's MILLIONS of ideas and decisions into a coherent, synchronized whole can be so cheaply and unfairly referred to a singular "idea" or "thought"
  Yes, characters and music are thoughts and ideas. One can remember it in one's head, and one could potentially sing/perform music to other people.
  
  no one cares what you sing in the shower or think in your head
  If copyright criminalizes one's right to sing a song one has in one's own head (which, indeed, it does, and it has happened before), then that is definitely thought police.
  
  only someone far, far, far, removed from reality
  The only one far removed from reality is you. It has nothing to do with "protecting" their hard work. It has everything to do with controlling what other people do with their thoughts and ideas.
- corporate shill
  
  However, it sends out a strong message that confirms the current trend that BitTorrent is much more than just a tool for pirates, but it is difficult to deny that filesharing makes it harder for record labels to hype mediocre content. However, music itself is more alive than ever before.
  
  Read it & weep freetard / stfu, just thought i'd copy & paste that cause we all know you don't come here to read the articles, just to push your social engineering which you're paid & made to by the mafiaa, in a few more years & turds like you will be extinct.
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wondergirl

I have to agree with lymph3's immediate and extended family… when I first read the announcement on the site, I thought (in ~ the order that follows):

1. meh? I guess it's a cool idea…?
2. …but releasing exclusively to an already exclusive tracker… isn't that counter intuitive if you're seeking exposure and growth as a new label/artist??
3. meh? …it probably doesn't matter either way based on the marginal (if even honorably mentionable) success that net labels and 'artist collectives' tend to yield….

BUT then out of nerdy curiosity, I filtered a torrent search in the indie genre (as they are, in truest form, indie) to see how their snatch and seed count measured up against like uploads and was pretty stunned to find that they rival the likes of Radiohead's 'OK Computer'–arguably, (or not so arguably IMO) one of the best albums of our time! And yes, that can probably be attributed to the fact that most of us already owned OKC (if you were conscious in the 90's) and that it's a ratio-bump being freeleech, BUT at 3.8k snatches and a solid 2k seeders(!)…it's a pretty remarkable feat for a band no one has ever heard of! Not to mention this is a release that just posted to the tracker on the 24th… it's really crazy if you stop to think about it (at least I think so).

So yeah, maybe the people who snatched for a ratio fluff will never even listen to the damn thing, but who knows? But when, to a no-name band, just packing a tiny dive bar is an accomplishment, getting your music to the ears of potentially 3,000+ people in less than a week is pretty flippin great! I'm sure that what.cd is also a hub of music snobs (myself included) and the likelihood that one of those snobs might write for a snobby music blog that (despite occasional pretentiousness) might be a tastemaker in the world of indie music is not all that unimaginable. So, if something good tickles their ears that otherwise would go completely un-noticed who knows what exposure could lead to more exposure? And plain old word of mouth is nothing to dismiss….any publicity is good publicity, right?

I just think it's an interesting new branch on the marketing tree and hopefully, it's an outlet that will actually put even more pressure on 'net labels' to find truly great bands and on bands to be truly great… because if you're goiing to give away your music for free, it better be good enough to bring the people to the shows (where the actual money is made). This could be a brilliant idea or could fail miserably, but the music is getting to the people and in the end, that's what it's about!

That's just my thought–I'm a TF posting virgin…or was–so not here to tear apart ideas (or be torn apart)…. I'm just that overly geeky about music :)
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Heil Roze!

MyGermanShepDogFuckedRoze'sArse
BitTorrent and P2P in general can obviously break the hold of the big industry (which the MAFIAA represents) on culture, and hand over control to the people – of course, it is the obvious reason that the MAFIAA hates it. Copyright, after all, is the law that is used to regulate what people do with non-concrete ideas and thoughts that they "own," forbidding people to do what they want with ideas and thoughts, like memorizing songs and performing them. In other words, copyright is obviously there to police what people do with certain thoughts that they "own," with the intention of maintaining their hold on culture, and preventing BitTorrent &c. from breaking their hold – and it would require nothing less than a MAFIAA Gestapo to do so.BitTorrent and P2P in general can obviously break the hold of the big industry (which the MAFIAA represents) on culture, and hand over control to the people – of course, it is the obvious reason that the MAFIAA hates it. Copyright, after all, is the law that is used to regulate what people do with non-concrete ideas and thoughts that they "own," forbidding people to do what they want with ideas and thoughts, like memorizing songs and performing them. In other words, copyright is obviously there to police what people do with certain thoughts that they "own," with the intention of maintaining their hold on culture, and preventing BitTorrent &c. from breaking their hold – and it would require nothing less than a MAFIAA Gestapo to do so.BitTorrent and P2P in general can obviously break the hold of the big industry (which the MAFIAA represents) on culture, and hand over control to the people – of course, it is the obvious reason that the MAFIAA hates it. Copyright, after all, is the law that is used to regulate what people do with non-concrete ideas and thoughts that they "own," forbidding people to do what they want with ideas and thoughts, like memorizing songs and performing them. In other words, copyright is obviously there to police what people do with certain thoughts that they "own," with the intention of maintaining their hold on culture, and preventing BitTorrent &c. from breaking their hold – and it would require nothing less than a MAFIAA Gestapo to do so.
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Record Label Teams Up With What.cd BitTorrent Tracker

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