someone put our music on download-servers...

[KHE]

so my band INTRACTABLE released our debut-album INNER DECAY on 22nd dec. we're a small, (yet?) unknown thrash- death-metal-band from switzerland. i googled our album yesterday, and found out it's already uploaded on 4 different servers/torrents in different countrys. aprox. 20 different metal/music pages links to these downloads.

whats your opinion about this?

i have somehow mixed feelings... it can be advertising for us, cause people listen to our music who otherwise wouldn't (facebook-likes for other countrys are rising since!) but the other way, i'm really pissed-off, because it's stealing. we putted so much hard work and time into this album, and these assholes are downloading it for free... i guess you know what i mean!

what would you do? just let it happen? or try to write the hosters and ask to remove it (which they wouldn't i guess)?


just in case you are intressted in the music we play:


(recorded/mixed/produced by me, masterd by brett caldas-lima!)


www.facebook.com/intractable.official

here you can download three tracks for free and legally if you want!

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/60974675/music/Intractable_XMas-Pack.zip

just in case someone want to support us, here you can buy the music/merch: (but who pays for music these days... )
http://intractable.bandcamp.com (merch needs better pics i know )


cheers!

markus

 

[Boneman]

Stay one step ahead and release your album on torrent sites yourself, as well as being available on itunes for sale.

 

[KHE]

itunes, amazon ect. all available (digital)! but why putting it on these sites by ourselfs? whats the motivation/sense behind? thanks!

 

[Boneman]

Its free advertising ! Some people feel more inclined to pay if the artist makes their music freely available as well as for purchase.

 

[Notuern]

Well, you guys should get paid like everybody else.. BUT in this case, dont make a big deal about it.
The people who download your record probably wouldn't have bought it anyways(Simply because they don't know what to expect from the record.), which means that the torrents makes your music avaliable to a whole new audience that might buy albums/tickets/merchendise in the future.

(disclaimer: I'm not trying to defend piracy in any way.)

 

[bassguy]

My band released a FREE EP recently and people still put it on file sharing sites haha. Torrenters gonna torrent.

I think Noteurn has the right idea. These are the kind of people who if they saw your CD on itunes or in a record store, would not purchase it unless they were 100% sure that they were going to like it. So instead they download a free copy. But in the end, this means your band has one more listener who is likely to come out to a show and/or buy some merch, and one thing I've noticed is that LOTS of people will download music, but the music they really really like, they go and buy.

Basically, in the end it's not like you really lose any sales, because anyone who doesn't buy it wouldn't have ever bought it in the first place if a free copy didn't exist. At least it will expand your fanbase

 

[jipchen]

Studies actually show that illegal downloads hurt small artists and help the already big ones.. so the free advertising doesn't really work (except in the very beginning if virtually no-one knows you). But nevertheless, this is how it is these days. Doesn't matter how small the band is We find our new releases on torrents and blogs a few hours after a new release everytime.
It's not worth the hassle to try and get people to take it down because for everyone who does, 10 new will upload it somehwere.

 

[drew_drummer]

Aye. We got hit pretty badly with our 2nd album. Short term there is nothing you can do other than suck it up, and just keep doing what you're doing. Long term, if it really bothers you, become active and spread the word that people should be paying for music. It's a small contribution, but if everyone does it, maybe the fuckwits will get the message.

 

[He's Dead, Jim]

Not to be a dick, but I would capitalize on the publicity. First, it tells you people know about your band. Second, it tells you people want and like your music. Not everybody can distribute EPs for free (see The Armed- http://thearmed.com/), but I would utilize free distribution methods as much as you can, even if on a small scale.

 

[DullElysium]

Just take it as a compliment. People try to only share stuff they think needs to be heard/seen.

People will always share your music if it's good.

My band made an ep from blood sweat and tears. Then we released it in 320 kbps mp3 online and printed 100 hard copies. Before the release we had around 100 fans in fb and now we're looking at slightly over 1400. Since we we're small as fuck before the release, a free download was really crucial to get more listeners.

You've got to get the fans thinking about how bad you need their support to keep evolving. They've got to feel like they're really slowing down one of their favorite bands in order to support financially these days.

And remember to do the music for your self

Phew... That was a lot of babbeling

 

[Habsburgs]

To be honest I wouldnt bother.. they are just bots that will torrent/upload ANYTHING. It doesnt mean theres "demand" for your band or that people are actually downloading and listening to your album. The same with blogs, more bands = more clicks = more money.

 

[Sloan]

comment on all the torrent sites and add a link to legit links so that people interested might actually buy it...

 

[Atheist]

And those clicks come from where?

 

[Terminus]

Two of my ambient albums I released last year are all over the internet (for sale) and I released them free on bandcamp. The fact that I put them out through a Russian netlabel probably did it. There's even a few sites that have my album up with a different cover art that I didn't make. the fuck? Any discerning non-idiot would probably be able to find the real link for free rather than pay $0.72 on some mafia site anyway.

 

[TheWinterSnow]

Two of my ambient albums I released last year are all over the internet (for sale) and I released them free on bandcamp. The fact that I put them out through a Russian netlabel probably did it. There's even a few sites that have my album up with a different cover art that I didn't make. the fuck? Any discerning non-idiot would probably be able to find the real link for free rather than pay $0.72 on some mafia site anyway.

If they are selling your songs and not giving you royalty, you can sue big time, even if it is international, that is a pretty big offense. Now sites giving out music for free on the internet is by copyright law completely legal. The only thing copyrights protect is that the artist must be given credit for the work of art they produced and must be given royalties agreed upon by contract when another artist or media source uses that piece of work and directly or indirectly makes profit off of it.

If someone was selling my songs on the internet when I am giving them out for free, I would be suing the ever living fuck out of motherfuckers.

As for the OP, you are a new band, you are not making a living off of the band, therefor do not expect to make money off of it even to return the investment of recording time, gear, tours etc. You are supposed to be doing it for fun because you love to play, not because you want to make money. Don't expect to get a return on what you invest in the band, investing money for studio time and printing CDs etc is for the experience and to get new fans. It is a hobby, and all hobbies cost money, they don't make you money. However, if and when you get signed to a label and you have to quit your day job, then yeah, get a little upset.

If you are a small band that has no label and you are not making a living on the music, there is no reason that you should not be giving out the music for free on the internet. Other than the studio time, it costs you nothing to put your album online for people to download and giving it out for free means that more people will listen to it that if you were to charge. Last time I checked, as a new or small band, getting more fans and support is more important than the cash flow.

 

[Terminus]

If they are selling your songs and not giving you royalty, you can sue big time, even if it is international, that is a pretty big offense. Now sites giving out music for free on the internet is by copyright law completely legal. The only thing copyrights protect is that the artist must be given credit for the work of art they produced and must be given royalties agreed upon by contract when another artist or media source uses that piece of work and directly or indirectly makes profit off of it.

If someone was selling my songs on the internet when I am giving them out for free, I would be suing the ever living fuck out of motherfuckers.

Yeap sure have thought about it. I'll bet most of those sites are run by one evil entity. And just to clarify, they have major label albums on there, too. On one hand it's shocking but on the other hand it is free publicity and I seriously doubt they make a dime off my shit. If a person is subversive enough to like and download my underground ambient tunes, they have to be smart enough to know that it's easily found via google for free. I can't imagine some dumbass actually buying it with that kind of taste in music. Hell they'll torrent it before that. Still, you do have a point.

 

[AD Chaos]

I would like you to sue them just to see how that would go

 

[Tokyurot]

I wouldn't stress too much about your debut album being somewhere downloadable for free since it's in your bandcamp page for free listening anyway.
I feel it being torrented tells you that some people are liking what they hear, and wanting to share it to friends and strangers too.
Sounds like some street-team work to me.

They probably don't care about the work, time & money you've spent making this album, but I think people still go to see bands live alot,
especially the ones they dig, and then buys some other merchandise available too. If not, may those mofos suffer an exploding fist in their arses!

Nowadays I rarely listen to other music than movie & game soundtracks at home, but when I go out to see some bands live,
the heavier the band is (to me), it's always one step closer to a perfect night. Your band plays just the kind of music
I'd love to listen in a bar with a constant flow of beer punishing my liver.

I gotta say that even your music isn't reinventing the metal, it has something special in it that I haven't heard since the 90's. I too am embarrassed of the
withering state of 'metal' music nowadays, or wtf it is that guys wearing girlie pants with their hair backwards are calling their music.

Your music reminds me of early Entombed (Clandestine era) mixed with modern grooves. Your drummer is awesome, and the raw & dry mixed vox just adds to that
older death metal feel. I didn't catch (yet) many gtr riffs that stood out to me as awesome or inspiring, but the sheer groove your drummer puts out,
and the raw attitude of your vocalist just beats my bones the way I like

Production is great, especially the drums! Do I hear Metal Machine + VCC alot? Keep up the great work man!!!

 

[LBTM]

@k.h.e. my question is, do you download music illegally?

 

[Empathy]

comment on all the torrent sites and add a link to legit links so that people interested might actually buy it...

This a thousand times. Also, most torrent hosting sites WILL remove files if you contact them. It's basically treated as an 'opt-out' sort of thing by the dudes that run them. They're not going to prune through every single torrent that is uploaded to their library, only the ones that they're asked to remove. You'd be surprised.

My main gripe with this sort of thing isn't so much the loss in revenue, but people uploading the music in really shit quality formats. Who the fuck actually listens to 128kbps mp3's these days? Seriously, hearing something I've worked on played back at that level just shits me off!