TMF said it will use the information to signal trends and target their audience.

Initially, TMF announced that it would count downloads from file-sharing networks for their new Superchart, as more people download music than buy it. However, they canceled this plan last week after protests from the music industry, who said it would send out the wrong message.

TMF, however, now say that they will use data from filesharing services as one of the sources for their playlist selection.

Wouter Rutten, the spokesman for the Dutch IFPI said he doesn’t see the use of P2P data as problematic as long as they don’t explicitly use it for their music charts or advertise it in any other way.

The negative reaction from the music industry on the pirate chart was to be expected, but also a little hypocrital. Last year we reported that Interscope Records, and probably other record companies, use P2P data as a marketing tool. They determine which tracks they will release as their next single, based on what people are downloading.

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Dawn Barger, manager of the Decemberists says:

For the most part, MTV and VH1 won’t touch video unless bands have sold a huge number of records, it’s impossible to get rotation.”

Publishing a video on BitTorrent, is cheap, easy and efficient. The hardcore fans helped to seed the torrent and within a couple of days the torrent was downloaded more that 2000 times.

Slim Moon, founder of Kill Rock Stars, the Decemberists’ record label responds:

“No matter where you stand on issues of copyright, a network like BitTorrent is really for exactly this kind of thing When you have content that you want to freely distribute, it seems like … the most logical way to distribute.”

The video for “Sixteen Military Wives” was shot for less than $6,000 at a high school in Portland, Oregon, and features members of the band participating in a Model United Nations, a simulation popular in high schools to teach students about problem-solving and international relations. In the video, Decemberists singer Colin Meloy represents the United States and boldly declares war on Luxembourg, a not-so-subtle jab at the Bush administration’s decision to go to war.

By the way, their album “Castaways and Cutouts” probably looks familiar to most people in the BitTorrent community.

grab the torrent

Wired article

Article from: TorrentFreak, check out our new blog at FreakBits.