Two Different Approaches Rockers Can Take To Musical Leaks

from the fan-appreciation dept

Remember how the last Guns 'N Roses album leaked to the internet -- and somehow the FBI thought it was a good use of their resources to get involved and arrest the guy who uploaded the files -- leading to him pleading guilty and getting two month's house arrest? Would you believe there's another approach?

Jeff Barr points us to the news that Vince Neil, the "sometimes lead vocalist for Motley Crue," has a new single out -- which first leaked to the internet. But rather than freak out about it, Neil decided to offer it up directly himself for free, and to make it more valuable to get it directly, by offering the track, the video for it and a desktop wallpaper in the official version. And with that announcement, he also reminded folks that the full album will be out later this year, and he hopes they're looking forward to it.

Which response do you think endears more fans? Which response makes a stronger bond between the musician and the fans? Which response is likely to make more people feel good about paying for stuff from an artist? Now, Vince Neil isn't as well known as Guns 'N Roses -- so it's not a direct comparison. But, it does offer a decent way to look at how different musicians handle similar situations.

Filed Under: guns 'n roses, leaks, music, vince neil

FBI Arrests Wolverine Leaker; Don't You Feel Safer Now?

from the tax-dollars-at-work dept

Much of the reasoning behind Joe Biden's recent summit with entertainment industry bosses and a variety of top administration officials -- including the Attorney General and the head of the FBI -- was to "coordinate" enforcement efforts. Efforts, one assumes, like the FBI's hard work in tracking down and arresting the guy who put a pre-release version of the movie Wolverine online, even though it was lacking in special effects and final audio. As we noted at the time, there were many ways that the studio could have responded to the leak that made them look cool and would have encouraged more people to go see the real movie. Instead, 20th Century Fox went ballistic about how evil this was, and got the FBI to act as its private police force. Of course, despite how this leak "ruined" the movie, Wolverine (despite mostly dismal reviews) had a massive opening and went on to earn $180 million at the box office, significantly more than it's $130 million budget. But, of course, the movie industry is dying, and our tax payer money should be used to track down the guy who did so much "damage."

Filed Under: box office, copyright, leaks, piracy, wolverine
Companies: fbi

Politicians Investigating Leaks Sites... Not Leaks

from the you're-doing-it-wrong dept

It was rumored recently that some politicians were going to investigate Wikileaks for some leaked documents that were posted there. The details weren't clear, and I was hoping something was lost in the translation, and they meant that the politicians would be investigating the leaks not the site Wikileaks for posting it. No such luck apparently. Three Congressional Reps have apparently asked Homeland Security what can be done about sites that post leaked documents, including not just Wikileaks, but Cryptome as well. In the letter to Homeland Security, they basically suggest that if needed, they'll put forth legislation that would make reposting such content illegal, which could create one hell of a First Amendment legal battle at some point. Either way, these politicians are focused on the wrong things. The problems aren't these sites, which are just service providers for the information. The problems are the leaks of info themselves.

Filed Under: blame, cryptome, homeland security, leaks, messenger, wikileaks

Rather Than Waiting For Someone Else To Leak Your Music, Why Not Leak It Yourself?

from the connecting-with-fans dept

A couple people have sent in the news about how Simon Cowell apparently has called in the police to go after hackers who supposedly hacked into a computer at his record company and leaked a new song by a singer named Leona Lewis. It's not clear what evidence there is that there was an actual hack, rather than the leak coming from somewhere else, but that seems besides the point. If the computers were broken into, then it seems fair enough to go after those who did the hacking.

But, either way, it seems that more and more musicians are recognizing that they might as well leak the songs first, so that such things aren't even an issue. Last week, we noted that Radiohead had leaked its own track, and it seems that less well-known bands are doing the same thing. The band Kay Kay and His Weathered Underground apparently wasted no time at all getting their new tracks online. Even though they're still working on the details of the actual album release, the band finished the album last week, and put it online almost immediately. Why wait for some artificial "album release" when the music itself is ready to go?

Filed Under: kay kay and his weathered underground, leaks, leona lewis, music

Encrypting Data Doesn't Do Much Good If You Tape The Password To The Storage Device...

from the just-saying... dept

In the early days of large scale data leaks online, the mantra one heard over and over again was "encryption, encryption, encryption!" Yet, encryption alone doesn't do much good, if you tape the passwords to decrypt the data to the storage device itself (found via Michael Scott). Yet, whaddaya know? That's exactly what happened in a recent data breach in the UK, though I'm sure similar breaches happen all over the world. This is what happens when someone preaches a specific action in security, rather than actual secure thinking and planning.

Filed Under: encryption, leaks, passwords

Wolverine, Box Office Results... And Piracy

from the what-do-you-do... dept

A few folks have sent in Matthew Belloni's attempt to quantify how much the leak of Wolverine "cost" at the box office. On one point we agree: the number is basically impossible to calculate in any reasonable way. Yet, that doesn't stop Belloni, whose estimates seem to be based on some odd assertions. His first number ($7.18 million) is based on the obviously untrue idea that everyone who downloaded the movie didn't buy a ticket. That makes no sense, and it's odd that it's even included. The second and third numbers ($15.75 million and $14 million) are based on comparisons to other "similar" movies which grossed a bit more in their opening weekends. But, in both cases, those movies actually got really good reviews. That's not the case with Wolverine, which has received pretty damn bad reviews. Rotten Tomatoes has it at only 37% positive reviews. That's really bad. And it's somewhat ridiculous to then compare it's opening weekend to Iron Man last year. Iron Man came in at 93%. Belloni claims these movies are "review proof" but offers no evidence of that whatsoever. I know I only saw Iron Man because of the awesome reviews, and since many people have associated the failure of the Hulk movie to bad early reviews, this is actually the first I've heard that these movies are somehow "review proof."

Belloni does include a somewhat snarky "$0" possibility if "the copyleft" was correct that the impact of the downloading didn't hurt the movie at all. But he doesn't do much to investigate that claim at all. He certainly doesn't explore that perhaps the real issue may not have been with the fact that the movie was leaked, but with the way 20th Century Fox responded to the leak. In acting like jerks, threatening everyone, and even firing a reviewer, it also seems likely that some people purposely boycotted the opening weekend. Instead, if the studio had been smart and actually responded in a smart way, it could have increased interest in the actual movie. So, I'd argue that if there was any "loss" in opening weekend revenue, the fault would have to lie with the studio for its reaction, rather than the leak.

Either way, the movie still brought in $87 million and destroyed the competition in the theaters this past weekend. It's difficult to see how anyone in Hollywood could claim with a straight face that the leak did much harm to the movie. The movie brought in a ton of money, and even if we grant the implausible theory that the leak "harmed" the theater revenue, once again it seems like if the studio and the theaters just focused on giving people a reason to see the film in the theaters, the leak would be totally meaningless.

Filed Under: box office, copyright, leaks, piracy, wolverine

TV Network 'Leaks' Its Own Shows On BitTorrent

from the catch-up-television dept

To be honest, I've never quite understood why TV networks and TV producers were so freaked out about online file sharing. After all, they already made their content free to view via television -- and adding more ways to see that content should only increase the value of the shows. That's especially true for shows that people want to stay up on and not miss. The more ways people can see it, the better, because it keeps them engaged and coming back for more. And, after some initial false starts, we are seeing some of that with things like Hulu. But, unfortunately, Hulu is still quite closed off and limiting (regional limitations, streaming -- rather than downloads, and some content disappears).

Others, however, seem to be grasping the value of making the content more widely available. A reader using the name PCVirus, sends in the news that down in Australia the TV network Nine Network has been leaking full, high quality downloads of the show Underbelly 2 via BitTorrent, right after the show airs. The network folks note that they see it as "catch-up television"; making sure that fans don't miss an episode. Not only that, but they encourage fans to share the show via whatever file sharing system they like. The only questionable thing, though, is the claim that the content will "stop working once the season finishes airing." Not quite sure how that works, but even that seems pretty lame. They're doing that because they're afraid it might cut into DVD sales, but as we've seen over and over again, if you give people a reason to actually buy the physical product, plenty of people will. So, make the DVDs include tons of extras -- and maybe some other types of benefits (opportunity to appear on the show?) and fans will buy.

Filed Under: bittorrent, leaks, tv, underbelly 2
Companies: nine network

U2 Album Leaks... Despite Ridiculous Attempts To Block It

from the lotta-good-that-did dept

At some point, folks in the music industry are going to (finally) recognize a rather simple fact: it just takes one digital copy of a song/movie/whatever to get out there, and it's everywhere. You can't stop it. No matter how annoying it is. No matter what laws it violates. It will happen. Taking precautions against it may seem smart, but it will always just be a waste, because as soon as a single copy gets out, it's game over. However, it appears that plenty in the industry still haven't figured this out -- and it's no surprise that U2 is among them, given what Paul McGuinness, the band's manager, has said in the past.

It appears that the band went to great lengths to avoid having its latest album leaked. The band refused to send out any review copies to journalists, instead organizing special "listening parties" where all attendees had to surrender any electronic device (including phones) before entering. So what happened? Well, the album has leaked anyway and thousands of people are downloading it.

So, for all that trouble, the band spent a bunch of extra money on these "listening parties," annoyed and inconvenienced a bunch of journalists/reviewers who were unable to listen to the music as they normally do, greatly limited the ability of reviewers to hear the album (meaning fewer reviewers than normal probably heard it)... and the album still leaked. So they got all of the (supposed) "negatives" and none of the (supposed) "benefits." Great strategy there, Paul.

Filed Under: leaks, music, paul mcguinness, piracy, u2

Another Author Has A Book Leak, And Offers Up The 'Oopsie' Version For Sale

from the another-good-response dept

We recently wrote about how the band, The Dears, responded to its album being leaked online, and compared that with author Stephenie Meyer who decided to punish her fans by stopping work on her series of novels, after a draft was leaked. However, an even better example comes to us from Geoffrey Kidd, who points us to the news that author David Weber accidentally leaked his own latest novel. He had been sending out "snippets" of the work to keep fans interested, but at the beginning of the month accidentally sent out quite a large snippet: the entire work-in-progress quarter-million-word novel. But, rather than complaining and punishing fans, Weber and Baen Books (his publisher, who has long supported offering up content for free as a part of a larger business model) are now selling the "Oopsie" version of the book, while making it clear that this is unedited and probably not the version you want:

For those who want it--and we stress this is an early, un-edited, incomplete version--we will sell the "oopsie" now for $10. We are not asking you to buy this version, we do not recommend you buy this version, but if you gotta have it, come and get it.

What better way to respond to such a leak. They've basically made a joke out of it, in a way that's endearing to fans, and which might actually net them some additional money from fans who actually want to contribute to the cause.

Filed Under: authors, david weber, downloads, leaks, stephenie meyer
Companies: baen

Band Actually Promotes The Fact That Its Album Was Leaked (Against Its Wishes)

from the ways-to-respond dept

Earlier this month, we wrote about how the author Stephenie Meyer reacted when a manuscript of her latest novel was leaked online. She punished the fans, by saying that she would stop working on the book. This seemed like an odd move to us, and we said so. Some in the comments accused us of being unfair in suggesting that anyone ought to figure out ways to use such a leak to their advantage, but it does appear that some are doing exactly that.

Eric Samson writes in to let us know that he just received an email from the Canadian band The Dears, talking about how their album was leaked -- against the band's wishes -- but, since it was out there, the band wanted fans to know it was there. Seems like the right response:

email between a friend of ours and us:

On 15-Sep-08, at 8:17 AM, ******* **** wrote:

It's out there.

On 15-Sep-08, at 8:15 AM, Murray Lightburn wrote:

i heard.

On 15-Sep-08, at 8:15 AM, ******* **** wrote:

Your album leaked this morning.

-----------------------------------------------

So there you have it, friends: our new album and finest work to date, still not due for several weeks, is out there. While we are 100% appreciative that people care enough, The Dears are still pretty old-school. This was not exactly our intention and to be honest, even though it's kind of cool, we can't help feeling a little bit devastated. We were always aware of the inevitability, as we are living in the modern age. In fact, we don't expect anyone to empathize at all. Nevertheless, you now have these options:

a.) download it now.
b.) wait and buy it later.
c.) both.

If we may have any say in the matter, whatever option you choose, we truly hope you enjoy it. We are excited and terrified all at once. Please give it a proper listen, maybe at least four times to start because it is pretty massive, intricate, layered. Much love, much care, and about 16 hours a day for so many, many weeks (months?) went into the making and delivery of it. We work hard for our patrons. In addition, we are not even certain of the quality of the files out there are like but we do know that the official version (out on OCT 20/21 worldwide) is of the utmost quality, mastered by the great Bob Ludwig. The sleeve and lyric book in the packaged version are also very cool so we really do trust that you'll pick it up when it is released formally.

Eternally Grateful,
THE DEARS

PS... Hope to see you...

Sep 30 Canada Waterloo, ON The Starlight w/ Gentleman Reg
Oct 1 Canada Hamilton, ON Casbah w/ Gentleman Reg
(and a long series of tour dates)

If it's going to happen and there's no way to stop it, might as well learn to take advantage of it.

Filed Under: fans, leaks, music, the dears