So what do you guys think about this Timo Tolkki business?

I don't like Stratovarius too much (mainly because of their singer, he's just unbearable imo), so I don't really care. Tolkki's attitude towards his "fans" really shocked me though, this guy seems to lose his temper quite easily. Of course this whole stuff with their new album is quite frustrating for these guys, but they should also think about the publicity they get due to mp3s on the internet. Even I bought a Stratovarius album (I don't listen to it anymore though but they still got my money ;)) cause I heard a few soundclips on the internet and thought it would be worth the purchase (I didnt hear much of Kotipelto there I guess... ;)).

Well, I'll have the pleasure to see them live next March with SyX (I even think about going to two shows), but I dont really know if I'll enjoy them. I just hope they leave Sy X enough time for a good set, you American guys were really lucky to see them with Blind Guardian...
 
Timo: touch me and I'll sue you
Mike: Oh yeah?
Timo: Yeah!
Mike: OK, I won't touch you...
Timo: phew, oh good
Mike: ...but I'll shred you to pieces with my new ESP!!!!!
Timo: NOOOOOOOOOOOOO....AARGHHHHHHHH!!!!!
:devil:
 
I'm never going to apologize to anyone because I download mp3s. I buy the album when I like the music, and I say to hell with it when I don't like the music. Most reasonable fans do so too. I downloaded the entire Odyssey album before it came out and I feel no need to apologize because I bought it when it did come out.
 
Oh my god I just read that shit he posted. I couldn't read too much more of it cause it seems no one got through his shield of shit and stupidity. I thought Stratovarius was almost okay but as for Timo Tolkii, I hope he gets hit by a car and the driver's listening to a pirated copy of Elements...
 
Originally posted by korruption
Oh my god I just read that shit he posted. I couldn't read too much more of it cause it seems no one got through his shield of shit and stupidity. I thought Stratovarius was almost okay but as for Timo Tolkii, I hope he gets hit by a car and the driver's listening to a pirated copy of Elements...

:lol: :lol:
 
Originally posted by korruption
Oh my god I just read that shit he posted. I couldn't read too much more of it cause it seems no one got through his shield of shit and stupidity. I thought Stratovarius was almost okay but as for Timo Tolkii, I hope he gets hit by a car and the driver's listening to a pirated copy of Elements...

Or better yet, I hope the driver's listening to a genuine copy of The Odyssey that he bought after downloading the MP3's. Since he liked it and didn't get threatened to get his ass sued off by Mr.Romeo :D
 
You really thinks this is funny?

I understand Tolkki, and I know he has spoken before thinking but if something like this would happen to me I would do the same.
 
Originally posted by Brood of Evil
Or better yet, I hope the driver's listening to a genuine copy of The Odyssey that he bought after downloading the MP3's. Since he liked it and didn't get threatened to get his ass sued off by Mr.Romeo :D

You guys crack me up :D :lol:
 
So much wrong information has been distributed that I wanted to come here and tell you my version of the story.
To start with, here is the original statement from Strato.com:


"I just got back from the promotour and received the news that it´s on the net already.
I have taken the necessary steps to find out the persons, who have put it there.
I have contacted our lawyer and the internet department of the Helsinki police.
I already have in my possession some ip numbers and there´s more to come.
We have obtained a list of journalists who have
received the promo copy.
We will find those people who did this and they will face a courtcase for sure.
They are transmitting internationally copyrighted material without permission.
The same goes to anybody who downloads this stuff from internet.
It is morally wrong and it is also illegal because of the copyright.
Don´t download unless you don´t wanna get into trouble.
We have means to find out these things.
If you think that you have the right to download copyrighted Stratovarius material you are wrong.
In that case I don´t want you as a fan.
There will be soundclips available on our OFFICIAL web site in time, just like there are clips for those who want to check out Strato.
I am not gonna write these things again.
To close this, you might want to be very careful what you donwload. There are already several false versions of Elements in the net and some of them contains viruses too"


There has been so much hostility and badmouthing about this thing that I
can hardly believe it.
Of course there are many ways to interpret what I wrote, but to clarify things I think that if you download Stratovarius material and then you buy the album, that is completely ok.
I was talking about the people who hold the right to download entire albums and then do not buy the album.
I think it is ok to download few songs and if you don´t like the music then of course you will not buy the record. All this is ok with me.
Of course in internet world it is impossible to find out who actually will buy the album.
Any Stratovarius fan would of course buy the album, so the "Stratovarius takes their fans to court" statements are false.
We have soundclips from our website (and no they are not 30 sec clips, but almost full songs) to check out the material, so you can decide if you want to buy our music or not.



Then I would like to comment some postings here:

" I've been reading the discussion from Strato's finnish board and there were a lot of ppl making good arguments on this subject. And then came mr. Tolkki and banned all of them! It seems to me, that since they had a lot of knowledge about the laws and stuff, Timo felt unsure of himself and banned them, so he didn't have to reply to them" by Janina

This is a lie. We banned only those who came there to offend by using foul
and offensive language.
We have NOT banned anyone who came there to present contradictory arguments.
Many people came and registered and wrote fuck you pisshead.
Those kind of people are banned from Stratoboard anyway immediately


"Symphony X will have the ultimate revenge on Stratovarius...by embarrassing their formulaic asses night after night on the upcoming tour. I've heard three songs from the new album and they are awful. Tolkki is beginning to make Lars seem reasonable, at least he had the sense to go for the source than target individuals directly and threaten to infect their computers" by Demonhead


First of all we invited Symphony X for this tour because we believe that they deserve much wider audience than they are playing now in Europe to.
We will play for example in Paris, Milan and Barcelona in the halls of 6000-10000 and that is a great thing for SyX to present their music
We will give them a nice treatment and enough playing time
We are friends and there is no ill will, but just friendship and mutual respect
About Lars: well that "I don´t want you as a fan" is actually his quote from the Napster days
On the contrary to Metallica, we are completely dependent on the record sales because we are an underground band and compared to Metallica we sell poorly.
We always put a lot of money into the production to give fans good value for the money they pay for the cds.
That is the only reason I have said how much it cost to record Elements. Not to brag like some people here (Janina) seem to think.
We haven´t infected anyones computer with viruses, but we do spread fake files in the net of our songs
I know that some record companies spread (unfortunately) viruses disguised as mp3s.That is not acceptable
If there will come anything good from these mp3 discussions, it must be that it forces the record companies to review their policies and company structures which hopefully will lead to cheaper cds.
I personally thing that cds prices are way too high.

What comes to other comments here like me crashing in a car and so on, I don´t even want to comment, it just seems that the meanness of some people in the internet world leaves me.....well..without words

So this is what I wanted to say, I hope it clarifies the situation a little bit.
I wish you all well and best of luck.

All the best, Timo
 
Wow...Timo thanks for clarifying your stance on the whole mp3 business. I must say it takes a LOT of balls for a professional such as yourself to confront the people on these forums who have said some pretty negative things and set things straight. My respect for you has definately increased after this post. I must admit too that I had thought you originally didn't want any downloading for any reason, but its cool that you're ok with people checking out one or two songs to decide if they're interested or not. I feel the same way myself. Actually, whenever my friends ask me for CDs of bands I will never burn them entire albums, rather I'll take a handful of bands and throw one or two songs of theirs on the CD and thats all they get cause they should buy the CD if they like the band that much :p.
 
Thanks for replying Timo.
Sure I'll use mp3's to discover new bands, but I always buy the bands cd's I really love, it's only fair to help the band out.
As for downloading the new Stratovarius album, I have not done so but I'll just use the samples on the official website (like i always do) and of course I'll buy it whenever it comes out in the USA ;)
 
Yeah I agree that car crash stuff was tasteless, sorry about that, Timo. And like a few of the posts above this- thanks for coming by and commenting on the situation. Drop by again sometime, coffee's on me. :D

Edit: Just adding: I'm just not really sure why some artists think mp3s hurt them when I see mp3s as good advertisement. Of course I can understand that some artists favour mp3 advertisement while others don't so again, Timo I would like to apologize that my post offended you. :(
 
Timo:

(I`m not a big Stratovarius fan, but this reply is neutral on the issue of Stratovarius` music. I purchased your DVD full price, and can safely say that I have downloaded the grand total of ONE Stratovarius song, which is Black Diamond, 1 1/2 years ago.)

Okay, the way I see it, you want the money more than the support of the fans. The loyal fanbase bands like
Stratovarius enjoy is a result of the interaction between band and fans, as opposed to very popular bands, who remain inaccessible and untangible for the majority of the fans. This results in a relatively large group of people who pay for your cds no matter what, and a host of others who WILL check out your stuff, but not necessarily pay for it unless they get to take a listen to it first, and see if they like it.

You say that potential listeners can check out soundclips at your page. Well, those soundclips are as much worth as a trailer for a movie. What guarantee do they have that the rest of the songs will be of the same quality? Undoubtedly some will make comparisons to downloading movies(most that download movies don`t go to watch them at the cinema or buy the DVDs), but you as a band have the advantage of a more personal relationship with the potential buyers of your products. You should be wary of making statements like "I don`t want you as a fan", because it increases the chance of those people replying to your rant with "fu€k timo, if he doesn`t want me as a fan, so be it. I`m sure as hell not buying Stratovarius`records now". I agree with your basic arguments, and I thank you wholeheartedly for taking the time to write long replies to online communities like this defending your cause. BUT: I would stress the fact that by launching alienating verbal missiles like the above sentence and threatening downloaders with a purging crusade to root out them and their evil deeds, you are shooting yourself in the foot.