Dan Bull's Free Single Hits The Charts

from the not-bad dept

Last week we wrote about Dan Bull's experiment to release a song, "Sharing is Caring" for free via The Pirate Bay (and other sites) and to see if he could still get it to show up in various charts. As we discussed, it definitely was making its way onto the lists of Amazon UK's top hip hop sales. And, on Sunday, the official UK charts came out -- with Sharing is Caring coming in at number 9 on the Indie singles chart and number 35 on the RnB singles chart.
In both cases, "Sharing is Caring" was the top new entrant on both of those charts. While some will say that not making the pop charts suggests this was a failure, it sure looks like a ton of folks were happy to support Dan's effort. As for the US charts, those have a weighted system that includes radio airplay, meaning that there's simply no way Dan could get listed, because he's not going to play the payola game to get on the air. Either way, it was a great experiment, and a job well done by Dan.
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Filed Under: dan bull, indie, music charts, rnb, sharing is caring
Companies: the pirate bay


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  1. identicon
    arcan, 30 Apr 2012 @ 12:27pm

    but but piracy is bad. they must have hacked the system to get it up there

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. icon
    Rikuo (profile), 30 Apr 2012 @ 12:33pm

    Latest news...UK Court orders the 5 largest ISPS in the UK to block Piratebay. "Its for the Artists!" they say.
    Ergo...this artist who deliberately released his music on the Piratebay, now can't service his customers.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. icon
    That One Guy (profile), 30 Apr 2012 @ 12:52pm

    Re:

    Thank you for that, really. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to be banging my head against the wall to try and knock that particular bit of stupid out.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. icon
    gorehound (profile), 30 Apr 2012 @ 12:55pm

    Glad you mentioned the PAYOLA SYSTEM.It is the only way those big RIAA Traitors get their status.Not by the Art they do but by the Record Label paying off Radio to play them more than someone else.
    Boycott the MAFIAA !
    Support & Buy INDIE Stuff

    link to this | view in thread ]

  5. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 30 Apr 2012 @ 12:59pm

    Congratulations, Dan.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  6. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 30 Apr 2012 @ 1:06pm

    Re: Re:

    Judging by your comment you have quite a bit of history with head injuries, perhaps you should stop.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  7. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 30 Apr 2012 @ 1:14pm

    Re:

    This is Bull!

    link to this | view in thread ]

  8. icon
    That One Guy (profile), 30 Apr 2012 @ 1:17pm

    As long as I'm going to be banging my head against a wall, may as well play village idiot here for a bit and beat the trolls to posting. Let's see how many shill 'points' I can rack up...

    Just like Marcus to completely miss the point. And btw I'm still waiting for you to publicly post every detail of your life and job to establish your credentials, and until you do I'm just going to ignore everything you say.

    But see, none of that actually counts, because he's completely skipped out on posting on Authorized channels!

    Obviously since he didn't go the smart route and signed up to get his music distributed by (whoever is in place of the RIAA over there) his music is completely terrible, since everyone knows if you're signed up to a major label that means you're a good musician!

    The only possible way he could have gotten that high up on his own was having a bunch of pirate freetards just downloading the file multiple times, and since they probably used Big Search to find it Google is once more encouraging people to steal from artists.

    (I take it back, that was actually kinda fun, though still made my head hurt to read it after)

    link to this | view in thread ]

  9. identicon
    Ye Dumb Olde Phartes Hater, 30 Apr 2012 @ 1:21pm

    Three Words

    link to this | view in thread ]

  10. icon
    That One Guy (profile), 30 Apr 2012 @ 1:21pm

    Re: Re: Re:

    Cushy, tie-dyed foam on that section of the wall. The idea is to replace the stupid with some random crazy.

    Without the padding, and reading all the usual shills on this site, as well as the 'brilliant' business decisions made by the RIAA/MPAA/other 'entertainment' overlords, I'd have knocked holes in every inch of my wall long before now...

    link to this | view in thread ]

  11. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 30 Apr 2012 @ 1:22pm

    luckily Dan ran his trial when he did. with the UK High Court issuing the ruling to force ISPs to block TPB, he may well not have had such a success. considering a reason behind the ruling was

    'Sites like The Pirate Bay destroy jobs in the UK and undermine investment in new British artists',

    makes you wonder how the hell Dan and others ever make any money at all! a better comment would be that the money grabbing fuckers in the BPI cant bear to have any artist make the charts or make money unless a large proportion of it goes to the industries first!

    link to this | view in thread ]

  12. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 30 Apr 2012 @ 1:23pm

    Re:

    Yeah, Marcus is wrong, rather than advise you stop, please continue until you're completely brain dead. Not long to go!

    Well done Dan, a shame so many morons still fail to grasp how the industry really works hence see how significant this is.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  13. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 30 Apr 2012 @ 1:24pm

    Re:

    You're not very clever, just thought you should know.. 'cause you seem to think you are, and that's not going to work out well for you.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  14. identicon
    Simon, 30 Apr 2012 @ 1:26pm

    yes but...

    Yes, but this would never work for people without bovine based surnames.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  15. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 30 Apr 2012 @ 1:26pm

    Streisand Effect post evidences recursion.

    Mike - you trendsetter, you.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  16. identicon
    dniMretsaM, 30 Apr 2012 @ 1:33pm

    Yeah, but...

    Even though Dan was able to get on the charts without the help of Big Media, it's obvious that it won't work for any other artists.
    ----------------
    Seriously, though, huge congratz to Dan Bull!

    link to this | view in thread ]

  17. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 30 Apr 2012 @ 1:55pm

    Re:

    Very insightful post, my friend. Down with Big Search!

    link to this | view in thread ]

  18. icon
    Overcast (profile), 30 Apr 2012 @ 2:45pm

    It's not about copyright - it's about the RIAA's fear of just this.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  19. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 30 Apr 2012 @ 2:46pm

    There are exceptional cases in all areas. Dan Bull is a loud mouth, he has learned how to suck up to the online social media types and blogs (like this site) and has positioned himself to be the "hero of the tardian masses".

    Wait for the week 2 results, where the song completely disappears.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  20. icon
    Overcast (profile), 30 Apr 2012 @ 2:46pm

    "As for the US charts, those have a weighted system that includes radio airplay"

    LOL, Radio - what's that? Is there 'free' music there? Is that legal?

    OMGz!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


    MUSIC IS FREE ON THE RADIO!!! THE ARTISTS ARE **DOOMED**!!!!

    link to this | view in thread ]

  21. icon
    Overcast (profile), 30 Apr 2012 @ 2:49pm

    Oh and by the way - I'm making yet more CD purchases from Amazon today, because I...

    HEARD MUSIC FOR FREE ON PANDORA!!!!

    OMGz!!!!

    IT was FREE!!!!

    But it prompted me to buy CD's - HOW CAN THAT BE?!?!?!?!?!?

    lol

    link to this | view in thread ]

  22. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 30 Apr 2012 @ 3:28pm

    Re:

    Clearly this is the work of Anonymous. Surely this latest cyberterrorist activity proves that we need even more draconian regulation and legislation regarding the Interwebs. Think of the children! If you are against censorship, you're with the pedophiles!

    link to this | view in thread ]

  23. icon
    RadialSkid (profile), 30 Apr 2012 @ 4:03pm

    Re: yes but...

    If that doesn't end up in the funniest comments tally at the end of the week, I'll be very disappointed.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  24. icon
    RadialSkid (profile), 30 Apr 2012 @ 4:06pm

    Re:

    There are exceptional cases in all areas.

    As always, it only works for artists his size, smaller, or larger.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  25. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 30 Apr 2012 @ 4:18pm

    Re: Re:

    No, it only works under certain circumstances, and doesn't appear to have legs.

    It's more of a nose tweak concept, and getting everyone from social media sites to push it (Hi Mike!). It's nothing more and nothing less than that.

    As a business model, it's lacking.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  26. icon
    Torg (profile), 30 Apr 2012 @ 4:27pm

    Re:

    >Wait for the week 2 results, where the song completely disappears.

    Oh, good, a particular claim that's easily testable. Very well, let's see where this goes in a week.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  27. icon
    RadialSkid (profile), 30 Apr 2012 @ 4:34pm

    Re: Re: Re:

    No, it only works under certain circumstances

    Much like a label contract. Remind me, what percentage of label acts don't recoup? 94%, is it?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  28. icon
    apauld (profile), 30 Apr 2012 @ 6:03pm

    Re:

    Wait for the week 2 results, where the song completely disappears.


    and considering the his country is now forcing ISPs to block access to the site, you may be right; just not for any of your reasoning, or rather lack of reasoning.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  29. icon
    apauld (profile), 30 Apr 2012 @ 6:08pm

    Re: Re: Re:

    and doesn't appear to have legs.

    It's more of a nose tweak concept, and getting everyone from social media sites to push it (Hi Mike!). It's nothing more and nothing less than that.



    I would like to see the data, that you apparently have found, that proves his music career will not be better in the long run for doing this. Please post your data and/or a link to where said data can be found.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  30. icon
    AzureSky (profile), 30 Apr 2012 @ 7:09pm

    Re:

    hope its not RIAA lables your buying from......

    link to this | view in thread ]

  31. icon
    That Anonymous Coward (profile), 30 Apr 2012 @ 7:31pm

    And I halped! /shake'n'bake kid

    link to this | view in thread ]

  32. icon
    G Thompson (profile), 30 Apr 2012 @ 9:35pm

    Re: Re: Re:

    It's more of a nose tweak concept, and getting everyone from social media sites to push it (Hi Mike!). It's nothing more and nothing less than that.

    As a business model, it's lacking.
    [emphasis added]


    I bolded your comment to show just how absolutely stupid your actual comment is, well unless you have never heard of the concept of MARKETING ever before.


    Getting sites to push something either by asking them too AT NO COST and then for Word of mouth to occur so other sites do it so it gets a certain viral push behind it is the wet dream of any marketer.

    Though hey what does anyone know, you have decreed that it's a horrible business model. You sure you never sold buggy whips in another life?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  33. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 1 May 2012 @ 7:56pm

    Dan Bull? Every morning I call up his brother Red. And we drink alone.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  34. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 4 May 2012 @ 8:08pm

    So a one off novelty song charts, so what? How about you chart one EVERY week?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  35. identicon
    Birkin, 17 Sep 2012 @ 6:13pm

    So sharing the resouces is great. I love this. I often share resources with others.

    link to this | view in thread ]


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