and for all the little piggies life is getting worse
As you've probably read elsewhere Oink got busted by Interpol (not the band).
DJ Rupture has some rather poignant analysis.
Meanwhile, a bunch of Canadian musicians release a statement saying that this is exactly the type of thing that they don't want. In fact, Sum 41 goes this far:
"It's essential that any new copyright law allows the fans to share music without the threat of litigation" Derek Whibley: Sum 41(via Rob)
Some geeks are really sad. (that includes me)
You can't argue with the legality, but as far as protecting sales goes, I can definitely vouch for the fact that using the site resulted in me buying more music than I did before (and I didn't really think that was feasible).
In semi-related news, the major labels can't agree on a preferred method of digital distribution, but they can agree to hold hands and sue usenet. Some geeks are really sad, circa 1996. Most everyone else is thinking, "wtf is usenet?"
Fake Shark - Real Zombie have a pair of shows this weekend. They play Salbourg on Saturday and open for Stinkmitt at the Backstage Lounge on Friday. Stinkmitt and FSRZ at the Backstage Lounge? I predict trouble of the most entertaining variety.
Nicole Atkins opens for the Pipettes on November 3rd.
Also on the 3rd, Lions in the Street are at the Railway with Run GMC and Treacherous Machete.
And finally, on the same night, Salbourg hosts Whitey and Rory Phillips.
Labels: show announcements
18 Comments:
I never used oink, but I lament the loss of any file-sharing service. And yet I still prefer the real Interpol to the infinite boring shittiness of the band Interpol. And I'm a criminal!
By 
, at
4:39 p.m.
i used to get everything from usenet before oink. and i think they only sued usenet.com, which is just one usenet provider. there's plenty others like giganews, newscene, etc...
it's kinda like sueing one ISP isn't gonna shut down the web.
Mediafire for Prime Minister!
By , at
5:42 p.m.
agreed with your comment re buying more music. since i started downloading,i would say i probably spend at least 3x as much on music. i look at it the same way i would the radio,if i hear something i like i buy it.
By , at
8:37 p.m.
by the way, joe lally is playing the show on nov 19th accompanied by capillary action.his site says it is at the gaff gallery though.
By , at
8:44 p.m.
that oink memorial is so great.
the posters for joe lally say it's at the astoria, but a fundraiser for gaff.
By 
Unknown, at
11:38 a.m.
As much as people don't want to admit, you guys are the exception to the rule about "listening to cds" and then buying them. 36% of all record stores in the u.s. closed. 36%!!!! Thats from downloading! Tower Records fucking closed! The number 10 cd of 2000 sold more than the number 1 of 2006! Is everybody out of their fucking minds?! Of course downloading is killing EVERY artist and the artists only make money off the cd sales! If you think small artists who play at Richards make a fucking dime on their tours you dont know anything about the industry. The only way these artists make money and get re-signed to make more of your favorite albums is by record sales. Maybe a couple people use their torrents to buy new cds but not the general population. With all of the popular technology in the world right now to support it, music is at its peak of use. Funny that at a time when we're listening to the most music ever, cd sales are at their lowest of all time. It's a coincidence, right? Nobody's doing anything wrong. Let's keep downloading and watch our favorite artists get dropped from their labels and keep denying we're doing anything wrong and in the future teach our kids morals don't mean a thing and music, unlike every other product in the world, has absolutely no monetary value at all.
By , at
1:05 p.m.
"the artists only make money off the cd sales! If you think small artists who play at Richards make a fucking dime on their tours you dont know anything about the industry."
you might want to tell that to every artist that i've ever spoken to of that size, who routinely say that they make zero off of sales and everything off of touring.
which label do you work for?
i think the radiohead experiment - where they say the average price people paid was around 2-4 pounds per lo-fi download - speaks pretty clearly that people still want to buy music to support the artists, but are sick of paying everyone else down the way.
i think record stores are closing because their prices are often way too high and consumers are smarter than that to pay 22.99 for a cd (the cheapest medium ever for pre-packaged music), mail order on the web has increased substantially due to the internet, and web-sales - itunes, etc - have also blown away lots of the outdated modes of distro.
and i, too, am in the camp of my music spending going up, concert attendance rising and yeah, i do think that has a lot to do with the fact that i can cosy up to a band's sound for a bit through blogs mostly, then pay them directly to play and, almost everytime, buy some merch.
By , at
1:31 p.m.
I understand I come off strong, but I dont work for a label, Im in a band that has toured extensively and has never made more money than breaking even. I dont care who youve spoken to. If you're not in a band you wont understand. And like I said, yes, they dont make any money off cd sales because no ones buying records anymore. Most bands don't make any money off small size touring. The guarantee for a venue like Richards thru a promoter such as Sealed will net you maybe $1000, which will cover gas, hotel and expenses. I'm telling you that whoever is saying they make tons of money must sell out every venue and have an extremely large following, a la Final Fantasy. Quinn I know you're a "music journalist" but you're not in a band signed to a label so really how would you know?
By , at
2:01 p.m.
And David, I do agree with you completely. CD's are way overpriced. A CD should cost an average of $12. If it did, I'm sure everybody would buy them. It's a shame the industry keeps overcharging up to $21 for a CD. It's ridiculous.
By , at
2:03 p.m.
"uinn I know you're a "music journalist" but you're not in a band signed to a label so really how would you know?"
I really don't fancy myself much of a journalist, but I don't know if saying "you're not in a band signed to a label, so really how would you know?" is all that fair. From that perspective, you're only in a band signed to a label, so how would you really know about total industry sales? (I would never seriously say that, for the record).
I'm not just talking about bands that I've interviewed who are willing to give me a nice pull quote about evil record labels, these are the kinds of things I hear from people who I'd consider friends (or at least good acquaintances).
Obviously, your situation might be different, so I'm not going to dispute that. But, I would ask when exactly it was when bands that can't bring in enough people to get more than a $1000 guarantee were ever making enough money any substantial money off of their record sales.
That is true, most likely the bands that weren't pulling in bigger guarantees and crowds probably weren't making very much from record sales anyways. And, the "indie" bands such as Band of Horses and Spoon are placing on the charts, which shows that true music fans are buying the records. But what I am saying is most of these people still have day jobs, and I do believe 15 years ago the situation was a lot different where, for random example, a band like Suede or a guy like Edwyn Collins, would sell enough records so they would not have a day job. I think that a lot of great bands who don't sell much would have been benefited greatly in a time before free downloading. It's just also that I've met many teenagers and young people who don't understand the concept of buying music. Honestly. They think it's free. Isn't that sort of crazy?
By , at
3:05 p.m.
There's an interesting weekly column in Stereogum talking to a band a week about their day jobs and how they support themselves while still making their art. Les Savy Fav, Deerhunter, Hold Steady, The National, etc.
Good for another perspective...
Quit Your Day Job
By , at
6:57 p.m.
Suede did sell enough records to not have a day job back in the day, but they also released 3 UK #1s.
Acts that reached #1 in the UK this year that are in a similar situation (big in Britain, not in NA) include the Kaiser Chiefs, Editors, and Hard-Fi... and they aren't exactly starving artists.
By Quinn, at
10:24 a.m.
watch out record sales! here comes pirate bay!
"The Pirate Bay is currently working on an OiNK replacement in an attempt to bring the hundreds of thousands of music albums back online that disappeared during the raid. The replacement will be released within a week and on the BOiNK.cd"
-Digg.com
quinn, i felt this was a appropriate thread to post this on... and am kind of excited for a reply from "anonymous"!!
this BOiNK thing is public though, right? how is that any different from what the Pirate Bay is already doing?
oink was public when it started...
hopefully the pirate bay peeps have the brains to make BOiNK private once they have a few users.
keyword: hopefully.
