How Not To Connect With Fans: Have Gilbert Gottfried Tell Them To 'Go F Yourself' For Listening To Music

from the yeah-that'll-work dept

Robert Ring was the first to send in the news that Victory Records apparently had ridiculously annoying comic Gilbert Gottfried film a video "message" to file sharers telling them to "go fuck yourself" and using some ridiculous arguments. He claims that the reason people file share is because they think that musicians are too rich. Of course, while this may be true for some folks, it's actually not the reason most give for why they file share. And, then, of course, he goes off on a confused rant comparing tangible and scarce goods to music, and not understanding the difference between giving people a reason to pay you and demanding compensation. Then again, I would imagine that telling some of your biggest fans "go fuck yourself" is not exactly a good way to connect with them or to get them to want to give you any money in the future: Of course, to make matters even more ridiculous, reader Metal Chris, who sent in a different version of the story, points out that Victory Records is famous in the industry for doing everything possible to avoid paying its bands (even beyond your typical RIAA accounting). Also, a looooong blog post from an ex-Victory Records VP made the rounds a few years ago, but apparently has been taken down in many places, which totally eviscerates the company's CEO, and (as part of it), notes that he helped move money around to avoid paying its artists. After detailing various bands leaving the label, and threats of lawsuits over refusal to pay royalties, he claims that he was regularly asked at the end of the quarter to hide money, often totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars that were due to bands on the label. He claims the label's boss, Tony Brummel, told him: "Fuck those guys, they're not entitled to that money," on a quarterly basis.

And this is the company that puts up the video above, pretending that it's about helping musicians?

Filed Under: file sharing, gilbert gottfried
Companies: victory records