Label That Embraces BitTorrent Upset About Lawsuits Against Useful Services

from the shutting-down-the-tools dept

The freakbits guys have a nice interview up with Dutch indie record label Beep! Beep! that has all the music from all of its artists available via BitTorrent, with help from Mininova. In the interview, the guy from the label says that giving away music for free is no impediment to getting paid for it, as you're getting exposed to a much larger audience, many of whom are happy to pay for stuff. Two interesting points (though, neither is that surprising):
  • They seem a bit frustrated that distributors shun them. Apparently plenty of distributors are worried that by giving away their music for free no one will buy. Of course, plenty of bands have seen the opposite is true, but some myths are hard to dispel.
  • They're quite worried about the recent ruling demanding that Mininova block content, as it may harm their ability to get content out via Mininova:
    But now they have this new thing, where they are taking off all the illegal content on Mininova. For example if Universal comes in and says, "You have to take off this show" they do it immediately. And that is different between what the Pirate Bay does. It's a shame because I'm afraid it might be the end of Mininova.

    Pirate Bay provides everything, so why go to Mininova when you can already get everything from the Pirate Bay. Even if the Pirate Bay will be shut down then there will always be another torrent site, someone will come along and fill the gap.
It's an interesting point that I hadn't really thought much about. As the entertainment industry keeps trying to wac that mole, it's really quite annoying for those who legitimately embraced these tools for distribution, as they're forced to move around as well.
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Filed Under: bittorrent, record labels


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  • icon
    MarksAngel (profile), 4 Sep 2009 @ 3:10am

    The interview Link

    Your interview link gives an error:

    "Error establishing a database connection"

    just thought you might like to know that.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    TheJadedTech (profile), 4 Sep 2009 @ 5:15am

    The interview Link

    It's not a TechDirt error.....it's FreakBits....they are broken. I'm sure the link itself is fine....once the website is up and running proper. Thanks for showing your technological ignorance.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Chuck Norris' Enemy (deceased) (profile), 4 Sep 2009 @ 6:19am

      Re: The interview Link

      Sheesh! Because anybody on the internet needs to have a full grasp of internet protocol and error comprehension to read an interview. Go hug your router!

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 4 Sep 2009 @ 8:02am

      Re: The interview Link

      Way to be a dick! You really didn't need to add that last sentence.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      MarksAngel (profile), 4 Sep 2009 @ 8:35am

      Re: The interview Link

      Um I am aware that it's the other websites issue I just figured I could make them aware of the issue and the article could be updated to point to another copy of interview.

      Thanks for showing your rudeness.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Jason (profile), 4 Sep 2009 @ 10:04am

      Re: The interview Link

      I'm pretty sure TechDirt, especially Masnick who's pretty serious about delivering on value, appreciate receiving a dead-link tip.

      If you wanted to make a more helpful comment you might've suggested uwing the "Sumit a Story" link so as to tip off the same folks in a less public way. Sort of likely discreetly tapping your nose to tip a friend off to a booger.

      But since it's all out there, now. BOOGERS, BOOGERS, BOOGERS!!! Sorry, it's Friday.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Magadawg, 4 Sep 2009 @ 10:43am

      Re: The interview Link

      Don't be such an ass. It was obviously meant in good faith.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Matthew, 4 Sep 2009 @ 5:31am

    I can't help but imagine that having competitors like Beep! Beep! end up as an "unfortunate casualty" of the war on piracy won't cause many tears to fall in the executive offices of Big Music.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Dave (profile), 4 Sep 2009 @ 5:49am

    Legaltorrents.com?

    Are they using Legaltorrents.com for distribution as well? That site seems a lot harder to take down.

    Plus, they don't need a distributor to get their music into online stores if they use TuneCore. That's available to them, too, right?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Hephaestus (profile), 4 Sep 2009 @ 8:43am

      Re: Legaltorrents.com?

      TuneCore .... Thanks another great capability

      277 note/entry) a system to distribute music, video, and other digital information to external sites for sale or free distribution.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Killer_Tofu (profile), 4 Sep 2009 @ 6:45am

    A Small Wish

    I wish all of the independents like these guys who do use torrents would file in all the big cases where groups like the RIAA sue.
    That would be awesome to have a bunch of labels filing for the torrent sites and the other sites (like mp3.com back in the day) to stay up and as they are. No more shutting down useful cool sites just because a group of dinosaurs are grumpy.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Josh (profile), 4 Sep 2009 @ 7:19am

      Re: A Small Wish

      I'm not a lawyer, but I wonder if it is possible for some of these independent labels to go after RIAA on anti-trust grounds?

      1) RIAA members make up the bulk of music sales (I think). 2) By having the organization (RIAA) that is controlled by the major labels, they are de facto colluding.
      3) The organization is actively trying to stomp out alternative distribution methods that are one of the independents key marketing efforts.

      I don't know if that sounds thin to a lawyer (it sounds pretty obvious to me), but at least it highlights the issue.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Benjie, 4 Sep 2009 @ 9:17am

    Fine them

    $1million fine for each item that is taken down that the creator didn't want taken down. This fine is applied to the person/entity who requests it.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    inc (profile), 4 Sep 2009 @ 10:59am

    they should just make there own tracker so they don't need to worry. I'm sure that mininova displays external trackers.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Bas (profile), 4 Sep 2009 @ 11:30am

    Actually, I thought about this a long time ago, because I distribute my DJ sets, that I also post on soundcloud and offer for download on my DJ homepage, via The Pirate Bay and Mininova.

    They are great channels to reach a lot of users who are not on Soundcloud and not following my site.

    I'm from The Netherlands and when I heard about these guys suing The Pirate Bay and Mininova, I immediately started worrying about how I was going to reach the audience if these sites were indeed shut down.

    Knowing the internet though, this repression will of course create a higher demand for innovation and will create even better and easier ways to distribute musical content to big groups of people.

    Still, it's a shame that artists, even the progressive ones, are (indirectly) paying an organisation to fight technology.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Seedbox, 10 Nov 2009 @ 2:53pm

    The artic monkeys made there name first through p2p.

    Interesting article
    http://www.zeropaid.com/news/8583/arctic_monkeys_turn_their_backs_on_p2p/

    link to this | view in chronology ]


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