First 'W3' Pressing of 1000 copies, almost gone!

[TENTH DREAMER DECEIVER]

But they buy concert tickets and t-shirts to make up for their freeloading

Don't do it, dude. Not now. Not ever.

Read Ayn Rand. Atlas Shrugged. Or The Fountainhead. Intellectual and creative property is worth every penny charged. Probably much more.

People today will rip you off seven ways from Sunday if you give them a chance. I certainly hope "DeathBlade" was kidding. Even if he was, it's piss-poor joke.

Illegal downloaders are freeloaders. They're highway robbers who demand that musicians become their slaves. They may not use a gun, but their actions are no less violent. Or no less final. The end result in both instances is the death of the person being robbed. Only, in the case of musicians, the death suffered is the loss of creative control and, ultimately, livelihood.

I don't understand the mind of a thief.

And I hope I never do.

Bill

 

[David Gold]

Daid Gold - I have considered a 'donations' paypal button / address. People are free and able to download, listen and pay for whatever they'd like, but shit, everything on our end costs money to do and a band has got to find new ways to survive, man.

What I meant by this is to have a paypal donations option, aside from selling physical CDs, paid downloads, shirts and merch, etc... For anyone who was in the position to and who would be willing to help support the band with a financial contribution in exchange for things we've already done (old albums they've enjoyed listening to) and what we will do in the future (new projects). We wouldn't expect any money from a broke-ass student without a job, but it wouldn't be crazy for us to hear from an older listener with a good job who really enjoys WoY. Etc...

People are ALREADY free to download and listen to whatever they want, pay only when they want to with nothing stopping them. We will always sell music on the medium (be it CD, vinyl...coming soon), we will eventually be selling song downloads (also coming soon) but we would have a 'donations' option available to those who've already downloaded the catalogue or who simply enjoy our band enough to want to support us with a little bit of $ to make our process that much easier. If we help to enhance your life with music, I feel it's only fair that we get something in return (in the cases of people who I still hear from who listen to all three albums but haven't purchased anything because the CDs are too hard to acquire, etc...). Nothing is really free because in this case if you don't pay for it, it will die.

+ Money from something like this wouldn't be going to buying Dan and I beers and spicy food! It would most likely go into the "Woods 4" recording fund (which we anticipate will be a hefty bill!).

That's my 2 cents on this for now.

 

[MentallyAbstract]

Yay, a piracy debate :|

It's not illegal in Canada, and I support bands I enjoy, especially bands without the support of a major label and millions of album sales. And I would be all for a pay-for-download option if a reissue is out of the question. But post lossless files, so we'll still get the full effect

 

[AdamWathan]

Why does everyone always misunderstand Canadian music piracy law? No, it's not illegal to download music in Canada. It's not illegal to download music anywhere if you ALREADY OWN IT AND HAVE PAID FOR IT. You are allowed to have as many backup copies of something as you please. But although the actual act of downloading music isn't illegal, having the mp3s on your computer without having paid for the music IS illegal. So yeah, you can download as much music as you want. But as soon as it's on your hard drive and you don't have a receipt for it, you are breaking the law by having the files.

Who could possibly be stupid enough to think that the Canadian government would legalize piracy?!

 

[PurpleCrayonWriter]

Why does everyone always misunderstand Canadian music piracy law? No, it's not illegal to download music in Canada. It's not illegal to download music anywhere if you ALREADY OWN IT AND HAVE PAID FOR IT. You are allowed to have as many backup copies of something as you please. But although the actual act of downloading music isn't illegal, having the mp3s on your computer without having paid for the music IS illegal. So yeah, you can download as much music as you want. But as soon as it's on your hard drive and you don't have a receipt for it, you are breaking the law by having the files.

Who could possibly be stupid enough to think that the Canadian government would legalize piracy?!

Certainly not me. Nor was I implying that simply downloading music is illegal. If that were the case, sites like iTunes and Amazon would be under a barrage of lawsuits even as I type this.

It's very okay to download paid-for music. I don't prefer downloads to actual CDs (because I love the CD artwork, lyrics, liner notes, etc.). But to each his own.

I am not Canadian, so I'm not aware of your laws. If I understand you correctly, it's not illegal to download un-paid-for music, but once it hits your hard drive it is illegal. That's an odd technicality, and a risky one it seems to me. But I wasn't commenting on streaming music (which is what listening to un-paid-for music that doesn't reside on your hard drive is, by definition). I refer to the worldwide epidemic of people who download un-paid-for music and deprive bands of their livelihood.

No one -- least of all me -- is saying anything to disparage Canadian law, or Canadians, or anything of the sort. My complaint is with people who steal music by downloading (via Megaupload or BitTorrent or any P2P site) it and not paying for it. If keeping it on one's hard drive (or keeping any physical ownership of it, such as burned CD, cassette tape, or whatever) is what makes it "illegal" in Canada, cool. I understand what you're saying. There's nothing wrong with downloading paid-for music. There's nothing wrong with listening to streaming music. What becomes wrong is encouraging people to share music via P2P sites, uploading it to a BitTorrent-type site, or making it available via Rapidshare or Megaupload.

Here's a concrete example: Slania, the new CD by Swiss Folk-Metal band Eluveitie. Right now, I can go online to any number of the sources I named above and download a copy of it. For free. I can obtain my very own copy of Slania without paying a dime to the band or its label.

I want Slania very badly. I have an interview with the bass player next Tuesday. My copy from Germany may not arrive in time for me to hear it prior to my interview with him.

What do I do? If I download the album from one of those sites I am breaking the law. It will hit my hard drive. I will burn a CD from it so that I can hear it in my car. Do I do it?

No. I do not. Can I? Sure. Will I? No. Why not? Three reasons:

1. It's against the law and I do not wish to find myself in court, paying fines, or standing behind bars, and

2. Eluveitie wouldn't see a dime from it. I'd be ripping off the band, and

3. I'd be encouraging others to continue uploading a band's music so that people -- like me -- can download it without paying for it. I'd also be encouraging the music industry to resort to ever more desperate measures to protect its livelihood.

I'm not against downloading music. I'm against downloading not-paid-for music. If the determining factor is whether or not it remains on my hard drive long enough for authorities to catch me doing it, then I have no conscience.

That's all I'm saying.

I apologize if my wording was unclear to the point it caused anyone to think I'm being critical of the laws -- or the people -- of Canada.

Cheers,

Bill

 

[The Black Death]

Here is a link for a trailer of the documentary :

Behind the suit and tie - A look inside the metal recording industry.


http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1126070759/bctid1382944553

 

[AdamWathan]

Certainly not me. Nor was I implying that simply downloading music is illegal. If that were the case, sites like iTunes and Amazon would be under a barrage of lawsuits even as I type this.

It's very okay to download paid-for music. I don't prefer downloads to actual CDs (because I love the CD artwork, lyrics, liner notes, etc.). But to each his own.

I am not Canadian, so I'm not aware of your laws. If I understand you correctly, it's not illegal to download un-paid-for music, but once it hits your hard drive it is illegal. That's an odd technicality, and a risky one it seems to me. But I wasn't commenting on streaming music (which is what listening to un-paid-for music that doesn't reside on your hard drive is, by definition). I refer to the worldwide epidemic of people who download un-paid-for music and deprive bands of their livelihood.

No one -- least of all me -- is saying anything to disparage Canadian law, or Canadians, or anything of the sort. My complaint is with people who steal music by downloading (via Megaupload or BitTorrent or any P2P site) it and not paying for it. If keeping it on one's hard drive (or keeping any physical ownership of it, such as burned CD, cassette tape, or whatever) is what makes it "illegal" in Canada, cool. I understand what you're saying. There's nothing wrong with downloading paid-for music. There's nothing wrong with listening to streaming music. What becomes wrong is encouraging people to share music via P2P sites, uploading it to a BitTorrent-type site, or making it available via Rapidshare or Megaupload.

Here's a concrete example: Slania, the new CD by Swiss Folk-Metal band Eluveitie. Right now, I can go online to any number of the sources I named above and download a copy of it. For free. I can obtain my very own copy of Slania without paying a dime to the band or its label.

I want Slania very badly. I have an interview with the bass player next Tuesday. My copy from Germany may not arrive in time for me to hear it prior to my interview with him.

What do I do? If I download the album from one of those sites I am breaking the law. It will hit my hard drive. I will burn a CD from it so that I can hear it in my car. Do I do it?

No. I do not. Can I? Sure. Will I? No. Why not? Three reasons:

1. It's against the law and I do not wish to find myself in court, paying fines, or standing behind bars, and

2. Eluveitie wouldn't see a dime from it. I'd be ripping off the band, and

3. I'd be encouraging others to continue uploading a band's music so that people -- like me -- can download it without paying for it. I'd also be encouraging the music industry to resort to ever more desperate measures to protect its livelihood.

I'm not against downloading music. I'm against downloading not-paid-for music. If the determining factor is whether or not it remains on my hard drive long enough for authorities to catch me doing it, then I have no conscience.

That's all I'm saying.

I apologize if my wording was unclear to the point it caused anyone to think I'm being critical of the laws -- or the people -- of Canada.

Cheers,

Bill

Hey man, I think you misunderstood my post, I'm on your side! Downloading music you haven't paid for is a crime, people need to support the bands they enjoy because making music isn't free.

In Canada, it's illegal to upload music anywhere, but it's legal to download it like I said. The catch though is that it's illegal to have copies of any music in any form that you didn't pay for, so you can only legally download music that you've paid for.

I don't know if it's illegal to download music in the US at all, but if it is then that is quite ridiculous. You should be allowed to download mp3s as a backup for your original CD if you actually own it, which is exactly what the Canadian laws allow. I'm sure it must be the same way in the US, I can't imagine someone being sued for downloading mp3s and not winning their case if they did in fact own the original on CD, because then the mp3s are just a backup which you are allowed to have under the Digital Millenium Copyright Act.