This is why artists struggle...

ChiDJ · Post by **ChiDJ** » Mon Oct 27, 2008 3:34 pm

The promo CD's for my new record went out on Friday to BillBoard, Radio stations, DJ's etc. The demo's are already being pirated on Ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Tod-Miner-%22Luv-N- ... 2005r20419

Fucking Sucks.

hambone1 · Post by **hambone1** » Mon Oct 27, 2008 3:36 pm

http://www.baekdal.com/articles/Brandin ... ng-tricks/

lola · Post by **lola** » Mon Oct 27, 2008 3:48 pm

Old story, it sucks, but that's today's musicbizz.
In about some years, electronic music will remain as a hobby.

ChiDJ · Post by **ChiDJ** » Mon Oct 27, 2008 3:51 pm

Rave wrote:Have you reported the fooker?

I think that is a double edged sword. I don't want to be a cop. I don't want to turn off a potential fan. In a few days the songs will be all over the torrents and limewire, before it's even for sale on BeatPort.

This is just the way it is for all of us. We want to share. But it would be nice to get paid.

Just thought I'd share as I'm sure many of us on this forum go through this.

T-

siliconarc · Post by **siliconarc** » Mon Oct 27, 2008 3:57 pm

err.. what's pirated? is that not the official promo cd?
"not for resale" and all that, i know, but no-one has ever paid any attention to that.

Daim · Post by **Daim** » Mon Oct 27, 2008 4:03 pm

buy it and give her a bad feedback

beats me · Post by **beats me** » Mon Oct 27, 2008 5:36 pm

Nobody is getting rich off music sales. But the more people who know you whether it's through purchases or pirating the more people will show up to your gigs and that's where the money is at.

contakt321 · Post by **contakt321** » Mon Oct 27, 2008 6:02 pm

lola wrote:Old story, it sucks, but that's today's musicbizz.
In about some years, electronic music will remain as a hobby.

Not just today's, this has been going on for decades.

I wouldn't get all twisted up about it, better for someone to have it on ebay than to just toss it in the trash (which unfortunately is where most promos end up).

Consider it promotion.

Shitty feeling though

Incy · Post by **Incy** » Mon Oct 27, 2008 8:41 pm

Artists struggle because promo cd's have equivalent value as their real cd's the market place? Let me introduce you to this new thing called the internets...

Regardless of medium, most 'artists' are the inventions and stooges of industry wihich seeks to capitalize on a fickle target market of trite and superficial fad. The 'artist' is treated as any other brand name consumer good. Real artists are found locally; and, they have day jobs. They are not directed on what they should be doing from from label executives, producers, investors, tour managers, lawyers, accountants, marketing firms, fashion consultants, publishers, or even pryrotechnicians.

This is why people laugh when the RIAA speaks on these issues. There is no faux public empathy that can be generated soley by industry regarding ownership rights of duplicate copies of mass producted art. So says the consumer, so it shall be.

The music industry is not a viable solution to plan a lifetime's bread and butter. Stay in school. /RantEnd

FrancodeLeon88 · Post by **FrancodeLeon88** » Mon Oct 27, 2008 9:05 pm

Incy.

Wow.

You are telling people that they should not dream to make a living in the music industry.

That is terrible.

I make a living in the music industry. Its possible. Is it hard? Yes. Am I happy with my life? Yes. Will it be for my lifetime? I don't know - I haven't died yet.

I say, whatever you dream, if you're willing to work hard, and risk it all, and really believe in yourself, then you should follow your heart.

Those aren't empty words. You will need to work hard - harder than your best friend who has a regular job, and gets that regular check. You will risk it all - your friendships, your family, your romantic life, your sanity, your fortune, your self-respect. And your belief in yourself will be tested daily.

But, the life is there. And when its sweet, damnit, is it sweet.

Looking at market viability and statistics is no way to plan what one does with their life.

Tsk tsk.

DJ Franco de Leon
www.FRANCODELEON.com

COSM · Post by **COSM** » Mon Oct 27, 2008 9:52 pm

Here's an interesting idea I came up with a while ago.

It's strange for me, because it goes against how I would spread my music (I'd be stoked if my music got pirated and sold on ebay and I didn't see a cent, but I'm fucking strange).

If you send out a pile of demo copies, set up an autohotkey script that inserts small miliseconds of silence into the end of one track using a WAV editor, so each copy you send out hows a slightly different amount of silence at the end of one track.

Mark down all the people you send demos too, and how much silence will be on the end of their track

Then when it gets pirated, you grab a copy, check that track and match it up with the culprit.

It doesn't have the be silence, you could do it some other means.. perhaps a slight pitch up or down..

Of course the hard part would be prooving it, but at least you would know

pulsoc · Post by **pulsoc** » Mon Oct 27, 2008 10:42 pm

Wow and I thought artists struggled because LOTS more people want to be artists than sanitation engineers.

Emissary · Post by **Emissary** » Mon Oct 27, 2008 10:50 pm

as far as i can tell, the less effort you put into making music the more money you make. I write what i think to be really good music for myself that takes days, and then get commissioned to do a sound a like for a corporate video that took 20 minutes and got paid £150. i guess it lets me continue exploring myself through vibrations and resonation though so i cant complain. the corporate cock doesn't actually taste that bad as long as you brush afterwards.

sweetjesus · Post by **sweetjesus** » Mon Oct 27, 2008 11:21 pm

legally speaking, there was some kind of ruling a little while ago that "Not For Resale" stickers on CDs are invalid and promo cds sent to people are OK to be resold.

jonny72 · Post by **jonny72** » Tue Oct 28, 2008 12:21 am

A lot of the problems are with artists and labels not moving with the times.

Why are they sending out promo copies on CD? I can't believe any half decent radio station in the world is still using CD's, most likely they rip it upon receipt and bin it and the same goes for a lot of DJ's. I'm sure most would prefer a WAV version instead, which they could always burn to a CD if necessary. Best thing is you could easily encode the WAV files so if a copy does make it in to the wild you can track down the source of the leak.

Though personally I'd go further and say the days of promo copies are limited, or at least should be. A lot of the big download sites sell promo copies for a premium, which says a lot. Why not just put it out on general release from day one?

Sure you can say this shouldn't be necessary as what people are doing is illegal, but we live in the real world and not some law abiding utopia. But in reality, if you don't evolve, you don't survive.

Having said that, I was under the impression it was pretty easy to get people shut down on eBay that are selling promo copies before release.