Tag: music leaks

Categories
News

How to handle ‘leaked’ news

Want to know what I think the worst part of my job is? The easy answer is a day when I get a bunch of personal and hateful things heaved at me anonymously. But that’s more of a byproduct of the job, not actually a part of it. The worst part of my job is when I am sitting online looking at any one of my aggregation feeds and I see something that I know is a “leak” of pertinent band information. Sometimes it’ll be Amazon or iTunes that has prematurely posted album information, sometimes it’ll be a tweet about a new song title from a small market DJ, or even, worst of all in my opinion, an actual song leak. I’ve talked about these tough circumstances before, most recently on episode 42 of the AP.net Podcast; however, I think that it’s worth expanding upon even more.

A large portion of this matter comes down to how I see my job. What is it that I do? Am I just a way to put out press releases when a band or label declares them ready for dissemination? Am I a “journalist”? Am I a blogger? By and large I view myself as a news aggregator and occasional columnist; someone offering an opinion on a variety of topics. I fear that if our website turns into just another place to post press releases we will have lost a part of what makes us special and loved. We will have lost what I believe is valuable to labels and bands in the first place: the very fact that people read our website. Some publications choose to value the bands’ or publicists’ wish and will at all costs. I understand that position and respect it — as I believe it is theirs individually to make. I, however, have to make the choice as a writer where I value our readers in this equation. I know that I don’t have full trust in certain publications because I can’t be sure that they’re writing for and respecting me, the reader, when they post. If I think a publication would pull an unflattering story or relevant information — I can’t trust them. And with that, I wouldn’t trust their opinion on music or their reporting on news stories. And, therefore, I use myself as a yardstick for the kind of reader I believe reads our site. What would I want to read, what would I expect, what standard do I hold the writers I follow to? These are the questions I ask myself every day.

I am well aware you may have different thoughts on how you would write online, I want to make it clear that I respect that as well — I’m not trying to say my way is the only way, or the right way, or even the best way. I’m simply trying to elucidate my reasoning and where I’ve landed at this stage in my career. I revisit my logic frequently, especially if I know it has bummed out a band I greatly respect.

Let’s look at it this way: If our core readers visit Twitter, or Facebook, or Tumblr, or another website similar to ours, and they have already seen some information by the time it’s “officially announced” — it has become “old news” to that audience. Giving people old news they’ve already read is antithetical to my mission statement. On the internet, yesterday’s news is virtually synonymous with nonexistence. However, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t put a pit in my stomach sometimes when we have to make a tough call. At the time when this information spreads to an official “source” like iTunes, I get stressed out. Did the band plan for it to just come out like this? Was there supposed to be an announcement? Why wasn’t this coordinated? What happened? And in a few minutes I have to start confirming information, preparing a post, and making the call for if it goes up or not. In this case, we posted it. Then I sit there and watch my email hoping that I don’t get one from the label asking us to pull the post down (or worse something directly from a band member). I hate those emails. I know it comes with the territory and I don’t hide from it. I really do believe the label is doing their job and I respect that. I always try and let everyone involved in one of those email chains know our policy, where the information is from, where it’s sourced from, that deleting it makes it worse, and that I will update the post with any information or statement from the band they’d like. Still, it’s a very stressful scenario (and as of this writing no such email has come in this particular case).

Let’s look at the other example of the day: I’ve known the guys in Yellowcard longer than many real life friends at this point. The people I went to my first Yellowcard show with I now know as those people I sometimes see on Facebook when they post pictures with their kids. Yet, even with this history, I believe in acting in accordance to our policy and not shifting it based upon the band in question. If we’ve been told not to post something under an embargo (more details about this special case below), I absolutely will not post it. Yet, if something is out on the internet and we are not the source for it — I do believe it is my job to post about it. If that causes harm in the relationship I have with a band, I totally understand that. It’s painful to me on a personal level but my other option is to bend my policy and give special favors for certain bands and therefore censor the news that I think that our audience would like to know (in turn they would be right to seek the information elsewhere and lose trust in me). Extrapolating that to its logical conclusion, we become a website that isn’t known for having the best information about all the bands readers want — and I feel as though I have failed at my job.

I’m not unlike most people: I don’t particularly enjoy bands, or labels, or publicists, or managers, or friends being mad at me. I don’t relish the idea of someone I respect being upset with me. It’s a dance between press and “journalist” (bleh) and one that I wish I had better solutions to after years of waltzing. My lighthouse is to continually come back to the question: Who am I writing for? I’m writing for the others like me that are looking for all the latest information on bands they love — and I feel duty bound to report on the information that’s available. All in all, this leaves me with a variety of options and a set of guidelines:

Option 1

I don’t post anything at all. The information is now elsewhere on the internet and I just wait until it is “supposed” to be released. It spreads around on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, and other websites. The “place” to talk about these stories is no longer AP.net — we, in turn, become more of a press release echo-chamber. The pro is that bands and labels probably like us more and the con is that our readers like us a whole lot less.

Option 2

I go rogue and post everything and anything. I post anything I hear, even if it’s embargoed or off the record. I post links to full album leaks and thumb my nose at legal. I lose respect for myself, hate my job, and quickly burn every bridge I’ve spent years building.

I see nothing good that comes from this option. I do see some sites that try and run with the full rebel/pirate mode and they seem to have a boost in popularity in the short term but few last very long. I’ve been doing this over a decade and don’t plan to quit anytime soon.

Option 3

I post the news and then remove it when asked by the band or publicist. This plays out very similar to option 1, only it also adds the wrinkle that our readers now know we are censoring newsworthy stories to some degree and that we can’t be trusted to give them the latest information about the bands they follow.

Option 4

I try to follow a set of guidelines (outlined above and below) and keep the dialogue open with bands and publicists and readers and other staff-members to make sure we are communicating every step of the way. This adds a level of transparency and hopefully trust with the reader — it lets everyone know where we stand and why. And, it keeps the conversation open for options we haven’t thought of or technology that hasn’t been invented yet. To pretend I have all the answers right now and can just follow a formula forever seems misguided at best. Mostly, I just want those that read my words to know where I’m coming from. I want them to trust me when I write something and know that I’m speaking from a position that places honesty paramount.

Album Leak Guidelines

One of the things I touched on in that podcast episode is that I will not post links to album leaks on our homepage. If a singular song leaks, I will, however, link to where it can be found. I will also immediately update that post to point toward where the song can be legally streamed or purchased the moment it’s available. This, to me, is probably the toughest call of all. I’m not specifically fond of linking to where someone can hear music if the band doesn’t want that music heard yet. At the same time, as I mentioned above, I do believe in my duty to inform our readers that a song is available to hear. I know that the band or label can normally have the sound file removed from somewhere like YouTube or Tumblr, but I am also aware that it’s sort of passing the buck. When this happens with a band I have a really great relationship with I can feel my hands get clammy and my stomach tie up in knots. This is where I have to try and be objective and realize that if I would post about the YouTube song “leak” of a band I didn’t like or consider friends, I need to be consistent in how I handle the situation with those I do.

Information About An Album / Tour Guidelines

These situations feel easier for me because it’s information and not music that is leaking. I understand a band, label, or publicist’s desire to control the information that comes out around certain big press announcements. I can empathize with all parties when they talk about how they get bummed out when information comes out before they’re ready.1This goes double when the band has had something special planned for the announcement or if they wanted to maximize the hype around information to coincide with a pre-sale or similar endeavor. I still struggle because I understand that without the bands making music, or going on tour, or being interesting to fans, we obviously don’t have a website; they are the lifeblood to the content that we cover. However, I am also cognizant of my duty to our readers: to present them with accurate and up to the minute reporting on things they are interested in reading. This is where all I’ve talked about above comes into play: I have to trust myself and my decision to write as though I’m our website’s number one fan.

Embargoes

When it comes to information that’s been embargoed, that is, given to us to post at a specific time but not before — I honor these completely. For example, I had the Yellowcard track listing before it was leaked today. Now, when something is embargoed that means I absolutely won’t be the source of the information, and I personally will not confirm something even if I know it to be true. I will present the information as “alleged” or “reported by” — and make it clear that I’m not confirming or denying the embargoed news. I am very careful about my words when I make a post on the website. If the information surfaces via another blog, or Amazon, or something that is not from us, then I will post about what has happened. This can create a weird scenario because, obviously, I wouldn’t post flat out false information. For example, I obviously knew the track listing being posted today was correct. I had not, however, seen the album artwork for Lift a Sail and made sure to note where the information was coming from, where I saw it, and that nothing was confirmed. It’s important to read how I word things because I always try to be as honest and upfront as possible about where information is coming from and what we currently know. I pick my words carefully. These situations, where information has hit the internet and I know the (embargoed) truth, are always complicated.

Off the Record

If someone tells me something off the record: I’m the only person that will ever know it. I don’t tell other staff, friends, or family. I usually will ask if this is information that can’t be attributed to the source and can be used as “background” or if it’s flat out never to be reported information. If it’s just for “background” — I’ll wait until I have multiple sources to run anything but without source attribution. I won’t give up a source, so you can either believe me or not in those situations, but my track record is pretty damn good.

When I cracked open my writing app and a beer tonight, I didn’t expect to write as much as I just did. But it feels good to have put it all down. These are the things that sit in my head and I have very few people I can discuss them with in any detail, let alone actually talk the theory behind them with. Thanks for reading if you made it this far — I venture the next long post will be about actual music.

This post was contributed to the Haulix blog by Jason Tate, founder of Chorus.fm.

Categories
News

People Are (Finally) Going To Jail For Leaking Music

Copyright theft has been a crime for a very long time, but its enforcement in the digital age is increasingly rare. Services like Haulix exist to not only help artists and labels protect their releases, but also to aide in the battle against piracy. We have many state-of-the-art tools to help our clients in the war against digital thieves, but unfortunately not every artist and label can claim they have Haulix fighting on their side. Some have no measures to battle piracy in place at all, and as a result there are numerous albums that still find their way to public ahead of their scheduled release date. Now, for the first time practically ever, someone is making sure one pirate never gets the itch to leak music again.

Late last year, songs from Madonna’s latest album were unceremoniously leaked before the album itself was even announced. Madonna swore she would find the person responsible, and with a little help from the FBI, as well as Israeli Police forces, she did just that. According to Consequence Of Sound, Ari Lederman of Tel Aviv was arrested for, and found guilty of computer trespassing, copyright infringement, prohibited secret monitoring, and obstructing investigation. Court documents obtained by The Hollywood Reporter claim Lederman had hacked into the cloud accounts of several associates of Madonna as well as her manager, and had in fact previously stolen a song from Madonna in 2012, which he sold rather than leaking himself.

For all of this, Lederman was sentenced to 14 months in prison. He’s also been fined NIS 15,000 (which equates to $4,000 US).

As far as we know this is the first time in a long while that someone has been sentenced to prison for pirating music. Though this specific instance involves the theft of an unannounced release, it’s not impossible to imagine a world where people who leak albums even a few weeks before its release could face real world penalties for their online crimes. Comment below and let us know your thoughts on this story.

Categories
News

Journalism Tips: How To Handle Leaked ‘News’

Hello, everyone! Thank you for taking a little bit of time out of your day to join us for a little music industry discussion. The following post is actually a guest piece from Absolutepunk founder/editor Jason Tate. The article was created in the days following the leak of a major alternative’s artist new album plans and addresses the ethical questions such info leaks raise for music bloggers.

This blog exists to promote the future of the entertainment industry, and to do that we need input from people like you and your entertainment-loving friends. If you have any questions about the content in this article, or if you have an artist you would like to see featured on this blog, please contact james@haulix.com. We can also be found on Twitter and Facebook.

Want to know what I think the worst part of my job is? The easy answer is a day when I get a bunch of personal and hateful things heaved at me anonymously. But that’s more of a byproduct of the job, not actually a part of it. The worst part of my job is when I am sitting online looking at any one of my aggregation feeds and I see something that I know is a “leak” of pertinent band information. Sometimes it’ll be Amazon or iTunes that has prematurely posted album information, sometimes it’ll be a tweet about a new song title from a small market DJ, or even, worst of all in my opinion, an actual song leak. Today we saw two similar incidents occur and I’ve felt drawn to clarify my personal thoughts on both. I’ve talked about these tough circumstances before, most recently on episode 42 of the AP.net Podcast; however, I think that it’s worth expanding upon even more.

A large portion of this matter comes down to how I see my job. What is it that I do? Am I just a way to put out press releases when a band or label declares them ready for dissemination? Am I a “journalist”? Am I a blogger? By and large I view myself as a news aggregator and occasional columnist; someone offering an opinion on a variety of topics. I fear that if our website turns into just another place to post press releases we will have lost a part of what makes us special and loved. We will have lost what I believe is valuable to labels and bands in the first place: the very fact that people read our website. Some publications choose to value the bands’ or publicists’ wish and will at all costs. I understand that position and respect it — as I believe it is theirs individually to make. I, however, have to make the choice as a writer where I value our readers in this equation. I know that I don’t have full trust in certain publications because I can’t be sure that they’re writing for and respecting me, the reader, when they post. If I think a publication would pull an unflattering story or relevant information — I can’t trust them. And with that, I wouldn’t trust their opinion on music or their reporting on news stories. And, therefore, I use myself as a yardstick for the kind of reader I believe reads our site. What would I want to read, what would I expect, what standard do I hold the writers I follow to? These are the questions I ask myself every day.

I am well aware you may have different thoughts on how you would write online, I want to make it clear that I respect that as well — I’m not trying to say my way is the only way, or the right way, or even the best way. I’m simply trying to elucidate my reasoning and where I’ve landed at this stage in my career. I revisit my logic frequently, especially if I know it has bummed out a band I greatly respect.

Let’s look at it this way: If our core readers visit Twitter, or Facebook, or Tumblr, or another website similar to ours, and they have already seen some information by the time it’s “officially announced” — it has become “old news” to that audience. Giving people old news they’ve already read is antithetical to my mission statement. On the internet, yesterday’s news is virtually synonymous with nonexistence. However, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t put a pit in my stomach sometimes when we have to make a tough call. For example, tonight the new New Found Glory album name, track listing, and single hit iTunes in the UK. At the time when this information spreads to an official “source” like iTunes, I get stressed out. Did the band plan for it to just come out like this? Was there supposed to be an announcement? Why wasn’t this coordinated? What happened? And in a few minutes I have to start confirming information, preparing a post, and making the call for if it goes up or not. In this case, we posted it. Then I sit there and watch my email hoping that I don’t get one from the label asking us to pull the post down (or worse something directly from a band member). I hate those emails. I know it comes with the territory and I don’t hide from it. I really do believe the label is doing their job and I respect that. I always try and let everyone involved in one of those email chains know our policy, where the information is from, where it’s sourced from, that deleting it makes it worse, and that I will update the post with any information or statement from the band they’d like. Still, it’s a very stressful scenario (and as of this writing no such email has come in this particular case).

Let’s look at the other example of the day: I’ve known the guys in Yellowcard longer than many real life friends at this point. The people I went to my first Yellowcard show with I now know as those people I sometimes see on Facebook when they post pictures with their kids. Yet, even with this history, I believe in acting in accordance to our policy and not shifting it based upon the band in question. If we’ve been told not to post something under an embargo (more details about this special case below), I absolutely will not post it. Yet, if something is out on the internet and we are not the source for it — I do believe it is my job to post about it. If that causes harm in the relationship I have with a band, I totally understand that. It’s painful to me on a personal level but my other option is to bend my policy and give special favors for certain bands and therefore censor the news that I think that our audience would like to know (in turn they would be right to seek the information elsewhere and lose trust in me). Extrapolating that to its logical conclusion, we become a website that isn’t known for having the best information about all the bands readers want — and I feel as though I have failed at my job.

I’m not unlike most people: I don’t particularly enjoy bands, or labels, or publicists, or managers, or friends being mad at me. I don’t relish the idea of someone I respect being upset with me. It’s a dance between press and “journalist” (bleh) and one that I wish I had better solutions to after years of waltzing. My lighthouse is to continually come back to the question: Who am I writing for? I’m writing for the others like me that are looking for all the latest information on bands they love — and I feel duty bound to report on the information that’s available. All in all, this leaves me with a variety of options and a set of guidelines:

Option 1

I don’t post anything at all. The information is now elsewhere on the internet and I just wait until it is “supposed” to be released. It spreads around on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, and other websites. The “place” to talk about these stories is no longer AP.net — we, in turn, become more of a press release echo-chamber. The pro is that bands and labels probably like us more and the con is that our readers like us a whole lot less.

Option 2

I go rogue and post everything and anything. I post anything I hear, even if it’s embargoed or off the record. I post links to full album leaks and thumb my nose at legal. I lose respect for myself, hate my job, and quickly burn every bridge I’ve spent years building.

I see nothing good that comes from this option. I do see some sites that try and run with the full rebel/pirate mode and they seem to have a boost in popularity in the short term but few last very long. I’ve been doing this over a decade and don’t plan to quit anytime soon.

Option 3

I post the news and then remove it when asked by the band or publicist. This plays out very similar to option 1, only it also adds the wrinkle that our readers now know we are censoring newsworthy stories to some degree and that we can’t be trusted to give them the latest information about the bands they follow.

Option 4

I try to follow a set of guidelines (outlined above and below) and keep the dialogue open with bands and publicists and readers and other staff-members to make sure we are communicating every step of the way. This adds a level of transparency and hopefully trust with the reader — it lets everyone know where we stand and why. And, it keeps the conversation open for options we haven’t thought of or technology that hasn’t been invented yet. To pretend I have all the answers right now and can just follow a formula forever seems misguided at best. Mostly, I just want those that read my words to know where I’m coming from. I want them to trust me when I write something and know that I’m speaking from a position that places honesty paramount.

Album Leak Guidelines

One of the things I touched on in that podcast episode is that I will not post links to album leaks on our homepage. If a singular song leaks, I will, however, link to where it can be found. I will also immediately update that post to point toward where the song can be legally streamed or purchased the moment it’s available. This, to me, is probably the toughest call of all. I’m not specifically fond of linking to where someone can hear music if the band doesn’t want that music heard yet. At the same time, as I mentioned above, I do believe in my duty to inform our readers that a song is available to hear. I know that the band or label can normally have the sound file removed from somewhere like YouTube or Tumblr, but I am also aware that it’s sort of passing the buck. When this happens with a band I have a really great relationship with I can feel my hands get clammy and my stomach tie up in knots. This is where I have to try and be objective and realize that if I would post about the YouTube song “leak” of a band I didn’t like or consider friends, I need to be consistent in how I handle the situation with those I do.

Information About An Album / Tour Guidelines

These situations feel easier for me because it’s information and not music that is leaking. I understand a band, label, or publicist’s desire to control the information that comes out around certain big press announcements. I can empathize with all parties when they talk about how they get bummed out when information comes out before they’re ready.1This goes double when the band has had something special planned for the announcement or if they wanted to maximize the hype around information to coincide with a pre-sale or similar endeavor. I still struggle because I understand that without the bands making music, or going on tour, or being interesting to fans, we obviously don’t have a website; they are the lifeblood to the content that we cover. However, I am also cognizant of my duty to our readers: to present them with accurate and up to the minute reporting on things they are interested in reading. This is where all I’ve talked about above comes into play: I have to trust myself and my decision to write as though I’m our website’s number one fan.

Embargoes

When it comes to information that’s been embargoed, that is, given to us to post at a specific time but not before — I honor these completely. For example, I had the Yellowcard track listing before it was leaked today. Now, when something is embargoed that means I absolutely won’t be the source of the information, and I personally will not confirm something even if I know it to be true. I will present the information as “alleged” or “reported by” — and make it clear that I’m not confirming or denying the embargoed news. I am very careful about my words when I make a post on the website. If the information surfaces via another blog, or Amazon, or something that is not from us, then I will post about what has happened. This can create a weird scenario because, obviously, I wouldn’t post flat out false information. For example, I obviously knew the track listing being posted today was correct. I had not, however, seen the album artwork for Lift a Sail and made sure to note where the information was coming from, where I saw it, and that nothing was confirmed. It’s important to read how I word things because I always try to be as honest and upfront as possible about where information is coming from and what we currently know. I pick my words carefully. These situations, where information has hit the internet and I know the (embargoed) truth, are always complicated.

Off the Record

If someone tells me something off the record: I’m the only person that will ever know it. I don’t tell other staff, friends, or family. I usually will ask if this is information that can’t be attributed to the source and can be used as “background” or if it’s flat out never to be reported information. If it’s just for “background” — I’ll wait until I have multiple sources to run anything but without source attribution. I won’t give up a source, so you can either believe me or not in those situations, but my track record is pretty damn good.

When I cracked open my writing app and a beer tonight, I didn’t expect to write as much as I just did. But it feels good to have put it all down. These are the things that sit in my head and I have very few people I can discuss them with in any detail, let alone actually talk the theory behind them with. Thanks for reading if you made it this far — I venture the next long post will be about actual music.2

  1. The AP.net Tour routing and bands (Say Anything!) were leaked early by PunkNews.org years and years ago. I’ve been on both ends of this.↩
  2. Maybe about that new Yellowcard album? Eh? It’s growing toward a top three album of the year for me at this point, I really do love where they took it.↩
Categories
News

If You Do Not Share Your Album, Someone Else Will

Hello, everyone! Thank you for taking a few minutes out of your day to visit our blog. The feature you are about to enjoy takes an in-depth look at a simple trick to fighting piracy that many young artists overlook time and time again. It’s nothing too complicated, but it can make a world of difference on your overall sales.

This blog exists to promote the future of the music industry, and to do that we need input from people like you and your music-loving friends. If you have any questions about the content in this article, or if you have an artist you would like to see featured on this blog, please contact james@haulix.com and share your thoughts. We can also be found on Twitter and Facebook.

This is going to sound a little crazy at first, but the availability of your material online is just as important to curving piracy in 2014 as the need to actively combat the proliferation links through Takedown Notices. That may seem counter-intuitive, as the spread of your unreleased material is typically not something you want easily available to anonymous people online, but there comes a point in every album promotion cycle where the exact opposite becomes true. Allow me to explain…

Let’s pretend for a moment that we are all in the same band. Our new album, which we have been working on for the past several months, is due out in the near future. Pre-orders have been going strong for a while now, but with a new tour starting 10 days before the album’s release we’ve decided that we will have copies of the record available for sale at every date of the run. This means that, for about a week and a half, anyone who attends a concert of ours will be able to purchase our new album early, which on paper seems like a good deal for everyone involved: Fans get music early, and we begin seeing an early return on our creative efforts.

There is a catch, however, and that is the fact that anyone with early access to our album also has the ability to leak that record online. 10 days may not seem like a long time when you step back and think about a career in music as a whole, but in the world of piracy it’s equal to a lifetime. The Expendables 3, for example, leaked online a little more than two weeks before its theatrical release date. Within 24 hours more than 100,000 people had downloaded the original leak, and countless more had shared their download with family/friends. When the film eventually hit theaters, its box office take on opening weekend was less than ½ the amount made by The Expendables 2 in that same time frame.

Our band might not have the same size audience as The Expendables franchise, but our album could suffer a similar fate if we do not take steps to curve the proliferation of illegal downloads online. The first round of defense is, of course, asking fans to wait and purchase the album. The second, and honestly – most important of all – is that we MAKE THE ALBUM AVAILABLE ONLINE.

The key to winning the battle against piracy, especially over the longterm, is taking whatever steps you can to make your music available to fans. This includes, but is not limited to: Soundcloud album stream, Spotify stream, Rdio, Pandora, and Bandcamp. As soon as a physical version of your album is available for sale you need to have a digital stream available and ready to be shared with press and fans alike. By offering a free and completely legal way to access music fans have less reason to even look for leaks, let alone download them. Why should they? Streaming is the number one way people experience music today, so if streaming is an option for your fans they won’t feel the need to engage in piracy. Everything they want is already available, it’s free as well.

A recent report showed that almost ¼ of an album’s total sales happen BEFORE the scheduled release date. Leaks can help sales, but more often than not they have the opposite effect. Streams on the other hand, can encourage consumers to purchase the album, as well as aide in promoting tours and other upcoming events. By hosting the stream yourself the power is entirely in your hands, which is something most artists rarely experience in the modern business.

Categories
News

Industry Spotlight: Will Miller (Tiny Engines / Beartrap PR)

Hello, everyone! After a brief absence from the blog it gives me great pleasure to resurrect our Industry Spotlight feature with a little help from our friend Will at Tiny Engines. The work he is doing in music right now is impacting countless lives, and I am thrilled to be able to share his insight on the future of the music business. If you have any questions about the content of the blog, or if you would like more information regarding the distributional services offered by Haulix, please email james@haulix.com and share your thoughts. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

We talk a lot about how much of music is a tight knit community of professionals, but in the grand scheme of things the business as a whole is a large, towering infrastructure made up of countless tiny moving parts (no pun intended) that music work together in order to keep the industry alive. Every person who contributes is, in their own way, a tiny engine working to fuel the continued existence of the music business.

For the better part of the last decade, Will Miller has been contributing to the music industry as a blog owner, label founder, and alternative music publicist. He currently spends his time as the co-owner of Tiny Engine Records and one of the great minds behind Beartrap PR, both of which keep him incredibly busy. I knew from day one that I wanted to work with Will on content for this blog, but given the typical workload he encounters each morning I held off on making any requests of his time until the very end of May. He agree, and now a couple weeks since our initial conversation I am pleased to present what I believe to be one of the best Industry Spotlights we have run in recent memory.

Will and I have worked together since we were both beginning to find out footing in music, but I don’t think either of us realized how inexperienced the other was at the time. From what I can recall Will was extremely professional from day one, and in the years since we have been fortunate enough to work together a number of times on exciting projects. Earlier this year he introduced me to The Hotelier, and not long after a close friend encounter a bout with illness that caused a lot of pain and stress in my life. That record, which I would honestly have never given the time of day without Will’s seal of approval, has since become a beacon of hope and source of comfort. It may even be my favorite album of 2014, and there will no doubt be several other releases on my ‘best of’ list that I know solely because Will and the people he has surrounded himself with made it a point to help those artists get the recognition they deserve. If that’s not the sign of a true industry professional doing their job to the best of their abilities, I don’t know what is.

If you would like to learn more about Will and his efforts in music, please make it a point to follow Tiny Engines on Twitter. Additional questions and comments can be left at the end of this post.

H: Before we dive in, please take a moment and introduce yourself:

W: My name is Will Miller, I do press for Beartrap PR and co-own the Tiny Engines record label.

H: Thanks for joining us, Will. We have been looking forward to this feature for several weeks. When you think about your earliest memories with music, what comes to mind?

W: Hmm, listening to a lot of oldies, motown and beach music growing up with my Mom probably. I still love that stuff too, oldies but goodies.

H: Do you remember the first album you bought with your own money?

W: Oh god, I have no idea. I’m sure it was something incredibly embarrassing. Something pop or hair metal I would guess. I was an 80’s kid, for better or worse.

H: How about your first concert experience? Bonus points if you share some memories of the event.

W: I think it was probably the Guns N’ Roses / Metallica / Faith No More stadium tour which I really remember very little about other than Axl Rose changing his outfit twenty times. I do remember buying a tour tee shirt and then discovering it had cigarette burn holes in it when I got home. Maybe that’s how they sold it to me? I have no idea.

H: You’re known these days for being a part of the punk and indie rock community, but was that always the area of music that captivated you the most?

W: I would say I was always drawn to music but it was taken to a whole new level once I started to dig below the mainstream. My story is probably similar to a lot of people my age who got into punk/indie rock. Nirvana was the gateway for me and from there I just went further underground into alternative and punk and indie rock and I’ve lived happily in that realm since.

H: A lot of the people we have spoken can pinpoint a ‘lightbulb moment’ in their lives when they realized that the music business was something that appealed to them. Can you recall when you this realization happened for you?

W: Well, I’m not sure the business side of it has ever really appealed to me, it still doesn’t really. The A&R side of it is what has always captivated me, I’ve just always felt like I had a good ear for things. I’ve always had a thirst for finding new music/bands and wanting to expose that to other people. So, the label thing was always in mind. The publicity side of it was never part of the plan but they are both fairly similar. I also ran a music blog for five years. So, really, it all just goes back to wanting to share my love of music with other like-minded people.

H: Did you attend college? If so, did you study anything related to the music industry?

W: I did, but didn’t study anything music industry specifically, just business in general.

H: Having become a successful member of the music professional community, would you recommend others considering pursuing a career in entertainment make it a point to attend college?

W: I’m not sure I would ever recommend this to anybody as a truly viable career. Or maybe it just takes a different mind-frame than what I bring to the table. But, if you choose it just be passionate about your work. I think at the end of the day, Beartrap and Tiny Engines have made it this far cause we only work with bands and other labels we love and respect. And I think that shines through. But, I probably didn’t realize just how difficult the industry is, in terms of making enough to survive and continue. It’s definitely something you have to be committed to and have passion for in regards to the bands and music.

H: Tiny Engines was founded in 2008. What inspired you to launch your own label, and who was the first artist you decided to work with?

W: Yeah, like I said before, wanting to do a label has always been in my mind. I always thought I could do it and I felt it would be a fulfilling way to spend my days vs. some boring 9-5 job. Tiny Engines was founded in 2008 by myself and Chuck Daley along with our buddy Jeff Meyers. Chuck and I met and worked together at Deep Elm Records and we stayed in contact once I left there. I think TE was just an opportunity for both of us to get further involved in music. But, I don’t think either of us saw it as something that would be going strong six years later and getting close to 40 releases now.

The first artist we worked with was Look Mexico, we put out their Gasp Asp EP on 7" back in late 2008. Chuck had worked press for the band via Beartrap and had become good friends with them. And then I met the band and we all just hit it off and felt like they were the perfect band to start the label off with.

H: While we’re on the topic of the company’s early days, what can you tell us about the story behind the name Tiny Engines?

W: I can never really remember the whole story but Chuck came up with the name. I think it fits. We’re just a tiny cog in the machine. I think the name has always kind of aligned with how we run the label. We’re small and band friendly but we also try to run the label in a professional kind of way without ever being too business-ey about it.

H: What were your goals for Tiny Engines when the label initially launched, and how have they changed in recent years?

W: Definitely changed from the beginning. Originally we were just going to be a 7" label doing one-off releases with bands we loved. But, then the Everyone Everywhere full-length came along and that record was just too good to not put out, so after only two 7" releases (Look Mexico and Tigers Jaw) we changed our plans and did our first LP as release #3.

I’m not sure we have any grand goals for the label. Obviously things have grown for us and the bands. At the end of the day we still just want to put out great records and work with bands we respect. But, we also want to sell enough records to keep doing this and growing and provide our bands with more resources. And it would be nice to be able to take a little for ourselves here and there considering how much blood, sweat and tears we’ve put into the label. I’m not sure people realize the amount of work and hours running a label takes. It’s draining but also incredibly rewarding as well.

H: You are also a part of the Beartrap PR team. When did you join the team?

W: Chuck founded Beartrap in 2006 I believe and then I joined in 2007.

H: What came first – your interest in running a label or your interest in doing PR?

W: Definitely running a label. Doing PR was never in my mind. I’m quiet and reserved for the most part so press was never something I pictured myself doing. But, like I said before, it’s fairly similar to the label in that I’m only working with stuff I genuinely enjoy.

H: Both Beartrap and Tiny Engines have been growing at an alarming rate. Do you ever struggle to balance the demands of both jobs?

W: Yes, most definitely. Especially these days. I would say my workload for Beartrap and Tiny Engines are both at an all-time high right now. Currently I do all the press for Tiny Engines as well as the press for 4-5 other labels so yeah, it’s a ton of work but I enjoy staying busy. I"m a bit of an organization nut as well so that helps. It also helps to be a single dude with no kids and a crazy passion for music.

H: Without going too in-depth, please walk us a through a typical work day:

W: Oh, nothing crazy really. I just moved up to Charlotte late last year so Chuck and I could be in the same city and I’m temporarily living in the TE office (Chuck’s basement…see how much money we make from this?) right now. So, that’s changed the routine a little bit I guess. Beartrap is much easier to set a schedule for, with Tiny Engines you never really know what the workload will be like from week to week, just depends on our current release schedule. I typically get started on replying to email first and foremost, Beartrap and Tiny Engines related. After that it’s typically on to Beartrap work, whatever press releases and/or digital promos need to go out that day. I know what I have for that day / week and I’m one who likes to knock my work out early and try to get ahead for upcoming days /weeks. It’s definitely a lot to keep up with so it helps to be organized for sure. And it’s a ton of email throughout the day, responding and pitching and coordinating. That can certainly be maddening at times but that’s just the job. And I usually end the day with packing up Tiny Engines mailorder. Save the worst for last I guess.

H: Tiny Engines has been using Haulix for a while now, and from what I have been told you are incredibly happy with the service. What is it about our platform that keeps you around?

W: We actually just started using Haulix this year. We have a Beartrap account that hosts Tiny Engines albums as well as all the other records we’re working press for. It really is an amazing service and one we probably should’ve been using a lot sooner. Just having the ability to create a nice digital promo in a matter of minutes is a beautiful thing for someone who makes a living doing press. And then obviously having the ability to send out and track what press contacts are listening to and downloading is so incredibly helpful in regards to follow ups and targeting contacts for premieres, etc. And then of course having the peace of mind to send out a record months in advance and be protected from an early leak, that’s been nice for Tiny Engines as the anticipation has grown for some of our releases this year. It’s certainly been a great tool for the growth of Beartrap and Tiny Engines this year.

H: Looking ahead to the future, what are the biggest challenges facing Beartrap and Tiny Engines?

W: Just trying to continue to survive. It’s always about survival in this business I think. You have to be willing to adapt and look for new ways to spread the word about your bands. I think for TE it’s going to be a challenge to balance our growth while still being able to operate as a small label on our own terms.

H: What advice would you offer aspiring industry professionals hoping to one day find themselves in a position similar to yours?

W: Work hard. Be passionate and selective about the music/labels/bands you work with. And stick with it, put in the time. Too many people give up too easily these days. And that goes for just about everything in life.

H: If you could change one thing about the music industry, what would it be?

W: I don’t know. It’s a tough industry for sure. For bands and labels. I love it when bigger bands, labels, publications support & spread the word about smaller bands & labels they believe in. That’s something to me that there’s not enough of these days, just mutual support/appreciation for when people are doing cool stuff, big or small.

H: Vinyl has become a big part of Tiny Engines’ business. What is your top-selling release to date, and what color variant are you most proud of having pressed?

W: Tigers Jaw’s Spirit Desire 7" as of right now although The Hotelier LP is going to gain traction on that one sooner rather than later I think.

In regards to color variants, god, we’ve done so many. I would say the starburst variant we did for the new Direct Effect LP might be one of the best for sure.

H: What goals do you have you set for yourself and your career in the year ahead?

W: I don’t have any supreme goals, I just want to be able to live a simple, comfortable life and continue working with bands/labels/music that inspire me. That’s it, I’m happy if I can do that.

H: I think that just about wraps it up. Before I let you go, are there any final thoughts you would like to share with our readers?

W: If you love a band support them. Buy a record or a tee shirt or go to a show. If there’s a label putting out music you love support them. Like I said, this is a tough industry for bands and labels to make ends meet and continue doing what we do. So, I think it’s important to remind people to support what they love in some capacity or it could very well be gone one day.

Categories
News

Advice: How To File a DMCA Takedown Notice

Hello again. We have spent a lot of time in the last month talking about piracy and the many things you can do as an artist to prepare for and, if necessary, handle leaks. Today we are going to revisit that topic once more to talk about the steps that need to be taken once your material has already leaked online. You may think all hope is lost, but with a little hard work you can curve the unwanted availability of your material in a big way and we are here to help. If you have any questions about the content of the blog, or if you would like more information regarding the distributional services offered by Haulix, please email james@haulix.com and share your thoughts. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

If you have been following our company updates over the last few weeks may already know this, but recently Haulix began working on a new update to our distribution service that will allow clients to automatically issue DMCA takedown notices for their copyrighted material. We are admittedly still a few weeks from launch on that project, but we wanted to begin our promotional efforts this afternoon by shedding some additional light on the purpose of these notices and the creation/submission process currently in place.

DMCA stands for Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which is a group of laws that protect copyrighted content and its creators on digital mediums. The DMCA was signed into law in 1998 and has since been the source of the vast majority of infringement issues arising from the continuing spread of digital media. There are many aspects to the law that are worth taking the time to research and understand, but for the purposes of this post we are going to look at the part most are familiar with (at least by name): The DMCA Takedown Notice.

A DMCA Takedown Notice allows copyright holders to request an Internet Service Provider (ISP), search engine, host or other type of site-owner/manager to remove material that is infringing their copyright, regardless of whether or not said copyright has been properly registered. In other words – it provides a means for artists and the people who back them (labels/agencies) to ask that their content not be shared without authorization. 

In order to file a DMCA Takedown Notice, you must first establish three things:

  1. You either own the copyright or have the right to claim infringement because of a copyright you license. If you do not have either of these, you are already wasting your time.
  2. The alleged infringement is not covered by an exception, like Fair Use or free speech laws. Stanford Law’s website describes Fair Use as ‘any copying of copyrighted material done for a limited and “transformative” purpose, such as to comment upon, criticize, or parody a copyrighted work. Such uses can be done without permission from the copyright owner. In other words, fair use is a defense against a claim of copyright infringement. If your use qualifies as a fair use, then it would not be considered an illegal infringement.’ You do not need to understand all the ins and outs of this law to file a DMCA, but you do need a “good faith” belief that the alleged infringing use is not covered by any law which would permit its use.
  3. The content is capable of being infringed online, which essentially means that the work in question is available in digital form. Some examples include text files (txt, rtf, doc, docx, etc), Images (smb, jpg, png, gif, etc), video (mpg, avi, mov, etc.), Music/Audio (aif, mp3, mp4, wav, etc), and images found on social networks (Facebook, Tumblr, etc.).

Once you have determined all three of these things to be true, it is time to move forward with filing a DMCA Takedown notice. It is important to understand that there are very specific provisions of the law you must comply with or the receiving agent may ignore your request:

1. Make sure you have found the proper source of the infringement – When you find your content on another website it may or may not be common knowledge who their hosting company is, but thankfully the internet provides a number of tools to aide in the discover process (I recommend domain tools. 

When contacting ISPs with Takedown Notices that are often specific email addresses provided on the host company’s website. You may need to hunt for it, as no two sites are ever the same, but searching DMCA may quicken your hunt for results. If you try and discover there are no specified contacts listed for DMCA Notices, search the US Copyright Office List Of DMCA agents. It should be current. 

2. If an online form specifically for DMCA Takedown requests is provided by the contact you are trying to reach it is wise to use that form as your initial point of contact as it is – unsurprisingly – your best bet for yielding a timely response. This may not happen with larger companies (like Google or Bing) generally use forms to direct specific issues to their different departments. There may be separate departments for music and images, for example, or perhaps a bunch of smaller teams dedicated to all digital piracy. You experience will vary by contact.

3. If you discover there are not forms provided and you still feel driven to fight for your rights as copyright holder you will need to take it upon yourself to send your notice to the designated DMCA agent (refer to #1 for help with locating this individual). Email will likely be acceptable for complaint submissions, but you will need to check with your specific agent to learn how they prefer to handle requests. It may be 2014, but some people still think fax machines are the best way to send business materials. Don’t waste time thinking about how much simpler or quick things could be and comply. This is another war for another day.

4. If you find yourself in a position where you need to create the Takedown Notice, there is a very specific set of information you will need to provide (and it is the same as what any form would ask you to fill out). According to lawyer Sarah Hawkins, your DMCA Notice must:

• Be in writing (this includes both hardcopy or digital)

• Be signed (whether in writing of via electronic signature) by the copyright owner or agent

• Identify the original copyrighted work (or works if there are multiple) you claim has been infringed

• Identify the material that is infringing your copyrighted work

• Include contact information so the designated agent can reach you, if necessary

• Include a statement your complaint is in “good faith"

• Include a statement the information in the notification is accurate

• Include a statement that under penalty of perjury you are authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.

I know that list can be a little overwhelming upon first glance, but in the age of the internet there is virtually no form letter in existence that does not come with hundreds, if not thousands of examples available online, for free, that you can copy/paste and adjust to fit your needs. You should always triple check your letters to make sure everything comes across in your own voice and that the above list is followed to a ’t,’ but it’s completely understandable if you choose to use a template letter in order to begin filing your first DMCA Takedown Notices. In fact, I have included a letter below you can feel free to duplicate, manipulate, and use however it is needed. If you have any further questions about these notifications, just comment below and let us know!

===========================================================

Sample DMCA Takedown Notice:

To Whom It May Concern:

Hello. My name is [YOUR NAME] and I am the [Job title] of [company/band/agency]. A website that your company hosts is currently infringing on at least one of my copyrights and the following serves to assert my rights to request removal of the content under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). I am filing this report in good faith of alleged copyright infringement am contacting you as the designated agent for the site upon which the infringing work currently appears. This letter is a Notice of Infringement as authorized in article 512© of the U.S. Copyright Law.

I am the copyright owner of the works listed below and the following is true and accurate to the best of my knowledge.

The original work, which I claim copyright for, appears online with my permission at the following locations:

[Insert URLs where your original work is located]

Copies of this original work have been attached to this email for your evaluation and determination.

The allegedly infringing [work – image/sound/video] appears on the following sites:

[Insert URLs where your work is being used without your permission]

My contact information is [address/phone]

The information of the alleged copyright infringer based on what I have been able to find is [insert all the information you have about the site/person behind the infringement]

I have a good faith belief that the copyrighted works referenced above that appear on the website for which you are the registered DMCA agent is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or by law. 

I declare, under penalty of perjury, that the following information is true and correct to the best of my knowledge and that I am the copyright owner [or have the license to the copyright] entitled to exclusive right which I believe are being infringed.

signed [insert name] on [date – day/month/year] in [city/state]

[signature]

**TERMS & CONDITIONS OF USE: While forms are commonly used and available elsewhere around the Internet it is important to understand the limitations provided by forms. A form, by its very nature, is previously written, usually to address a typical situation. Unfortunately, in law there are few typical situations. While this form will be useful for some, the use of a form should not be viewed as a replacement for competent legal advise adapted to your particular situation. Haulix accepts no liability if you do use this or a modified version of this Agreement.**

Categories
News

My Life As A Music Pirate: The Interview

Hello, everyone. Today is an exciting, albeit somewhat sad day. We are quite thrilled to be sharing the fourth and final installment in our ‘My Life A Music Pirate’ series, but are sad to see such a beloved column put to rest so soon. If you have any questions about the content of this post, or if you are interested in learning more about the secure music distribution services offered by Haulix, please email james@haulix.com and share your thoughts. We can also be found on Twitter and Facebook.

Today we put to rest one of the most interesting features we have ever run on this blog. Over the last month we have featured a series of posts on piracy written by a current music professional who has previously leaked countless albums online (part 1, part 2, part 3). Their story is one that I am sure many reading this can relate to, but somewhere along the line this individual got caught up in file-sharing and spent several years breaking the law as a result. They claim to have cleaned up their act, and for what it’s worth I tend to believe them, but as the initial columns began running on this site we could not help noticing an influx of inquiries from readers with questions for our pirate and their supposed retirement. It took a little convincing, but after two weeks of waiting our pirate has emerge from the depths of the internet once more to answer your questions on their life, the repercussions of their decisions, and how they see the industry changing to further combat piracy in the future. You can read their thoughts below.

We have said this from the beginning, but it’s worth repeating that we have absolutely no intentions of  revealing the identity of the person behind these posts. The pirate in question has been disconnected from the file-sharing world for over a year at this point, and we truly hope they manage to steer clear of trouble in the future.

[all questions based on reader’s emails]

H: Do you remember the first album you downloaded illegally? How about the first one you uploaded to share with the world?

As I said before, when I first started downloading I was downloading single songs. I wasn’t into full albums. By the time I was, I was gettings discs from the library to rip. I think my first full album download may have been The Prizefighter Inferno’s debut album. I couldn’t find that at the library, so I went online for it.

H: What is the furthest in advance of an album’s release that you would leak it? Did that time remaining before release play a factor at all?

Of course it did. The sooner, the better. When you’re leaking music, you’ve got to be first to be remembered.

H: What was the application process like for the leak site? If I ran something like that I would suspect everyone of being out to get me.

It wasn’t so formal. We got something we ran it.

H: Did you have any close calls with the law/RIAA?

We’d get notices, but no more than the average music blog with a stream. Most of our links would get taken down, but copyright holders would provide the DMCA notices to hosts like Mediafire and Rapidshare. On occasion, we’d get angry emails from band members that felt helpless and couldn’t actually do anything. I remember once a label offered us advances in exchange for not posting their roster’s material. We took the deal and subsequently posted links to the albums they gave us.

H: Did you ever have a moment when you were overcome with the thought you may be doing something wrong? Do you even see piracy as being wrong?

I don’t think there was one moment. I think it was a more gradual decision. Of course I see it as wrong? Didn’t you read my letters? Read them here. 

H: What benefits do you believe there were, if any, to the artists and labels whose work you shared without permission?

Even bad press is good press, they say. Seriously. Kids listened to the records I posted and went to shows. Some bought merch, some didn’t, they all tweeted and shared with friends. There are ways to make the most of a leak and a lot of artists figured out how to do that.

(Editor’s note: Haulix has a post that can help with that.)

H: Have you met any other music industry professionals actively involved in music piracy?

Actively? No. All of my old mates are out of the game.

H: Do you ever worry that your pirate past will catch up to you?

You’d be surprised how many of my colleagues are aware of my pirating past. I’m not that concerned about it.

H: What lessons, if any, did you learn from your time as a pirate?

That kids like free shit, that I liked introducing people to bands, that bands are made up of people making creative shit, and that underselling the value of that creative shit was a shitty thing to do.

H: What, if anything, can be done to stop piracy? More importantly, do you feel it should be stopped?

Piracy won’t die. People will always want something of value for nothing. That’s human nature. Still, things like Rdio and Spotify help cut out the need to download something to have it for free right away. Dying leak hosts help too. There are a lot less leaks going around now that It-Leaked is gone.

H: Where do you go from here?

I keep doing what I do. I write, I help musicians out where I can, and I drink more than I should sometimes. I live life and listen to music while I do it. That’s all I can do.

Categories
Job Board News

Haulix Weekly Update #33 – Let’s Vaguely Discuss The Future

Hello again, everyone! It’s Friday at Haulix HQ, and truth be told there are only a few short hours before the weekend arrives. We have been working around the clock in recent days to prepare the next updates to our promotional distribution system, but today we are taking a step back to reflect on everything we have accomplished. Thanks you for joining us. 

Each and every Friday afternoon we like to pause our normal routine of interviews and advice columns to provide an update on everything in development here at Haulix HQ. We may run a music industry blog, but that is certainly not all we do. Music security is our top priority, and in recent weeks we have been working hard to develop cutting-edge technology that take our servicing platform to a whole new level. Let’s dive in.

Before we go too far, we wanted to give a special thanks to Hypebot for the feature they ran on us earlier this week. 

Okay, onto life at Haulix HQ. If you read the feature mentioned above you were among the first to learn of the next update coming to our distribution platform. We are still a couple weeks from launch, but we are integrating a new system to automatically distribute DMCA takedown requests. We cannot go much more in depth at this point, but we feel once completed this update will exponentially strengthen the security we can provide our clients and their media.

As for life on our blog, things have been moving surprisingly fast thus far in April. We ended March with the launch of our Concert Photography series, and have already been inundated with requests for upcoming posts. We also spoke with a handful of the top 100 music blogs, but for now we are keeping their names under wraps. You can find everything posted in recent days below:

That’s all we have to share right now, but we are very much looking forward to the content planned over the weekend. If you have time, please stop back by. If not, have a great and safe escape from work. We’ll see you on Monday.

Categories
News

My Life As A Music Pirate (Part 3)

This article is the third in a four-part series on piracy. Click here to read the previous entries.

We love creating content for this blog, but the true mission of Haulix has always been to provide the most secure music hosting and distribution services available online. It’s no secret that piracy has crippled the music industry in many ways over the last decade, and we strive every day to do whatever we can to prevent future music leaks. You see, we may not be musicians ourselves, but recognize that the livelihood of everyone in the music business is dependent on the continued success and support of the artists we sign, promote, and otherwise get behind. If we do not do our part to help them support themselves however we are able then how can we expect anyone to help us when piracy eventually erodes entire segments of the industry?

Recently, it dawned on us that we did not have a strong grasp on what actually makes someone want to leak music. The assumption has been made in the past that these so-called ‘music pirates’ think the praise from anonymous commenters on message boards and forums is enough of a reward to convince them to hurt artists and those who fund them, but frankly we thought that felt a bit too simple to be entirely true. So we decided to do something we had never done before: Seek out a music pirate and convince them to share their story.

This afternoon we are thrilled to share the third in a four-part series that aims to take a closer look at music piracy as seen through the eyes of someone directly responsible for the leaks of several high-profile albums. It’s the story of one individual who managed to engrain themselves in the music industry professionally while simultaneously sharing unreleased records with the world, and it’s told entirely in their own words.

**As part of our agreement with the author of this series, a number of names and websites have been altered to protect identities and certain brand reputations. We have no intention to reveal the author’s name or location.**

When I began my first music-related blog. I had no real appreciation for music journalism or how that sort of thing worked. I just wrote about bands I liked and offered free downloads of their songs via filesharing websites like Mediafire and MegaUpload. It seemed innocent enough and as far I was concerned, I was doing these bands a favor. Free publicity! So that’s what I did. I downloaded songs, re-uploaded them, wrote blurbs, and shared them around.

Through this, my blog saw some success. A few hundred hits here and there added up. I made friends with others who ran similar sites like BrokeNoise, It-Leaked, MP3Boo, Get an Earection, Strike Gently, and a crudely named site I would later admin called LeakySlut. It was a community. We raced against and supported each other. This is what made it fun.

I ran LeakySlut, my own blog, as well as a forum or two for over a year. The first taking priority as a direct competitor to Strike Gently’s fall into poo porn and t-shirt sales. I leaked music and I was good at it. When we got a hold of things early, we’d upload the tracks laced with ID3 tags sporting our brand and push them out to the masses. I pushed the site to my friends and on Internet message boards. When I visited universities I would change the “ready” prompt on printer displays to “leakyslut.com.” I left the site open on public computers. The name alone generated enough interest to click around. When someone asked if it was porn they were looking at, a person would have to show and explain that it wasn’t. The site was self marketing. When I came aboard in fall of 2010, I took a blog posting once or twice a day and turned it into the new #1 source for music leaks in the alternative music community. This was something I was very proud of and later ashamed of. The thrill of delivering copyrighted content to thousands of fans hungry for it felt good, if only for the minutes following the initial post. I felt like I was doing something worthwhile. I thought I was part of the process when, in actuality, I was hindering it.

LeakySlut is gone now. It began to fizzle out once I left for more legitimate work. In spring of 2011, I left the leaking game and never looked back.

A week after leaving LeakySlut, I started an editor’s gig at a music webzine. No more links to zip files and mp3s. Just words on sounds. I had shed the peg leg and eye patch and it felt good. It was every bit as exciting as what I did before, only constructive and beneficial for the artists that I wrote about.

Now I didn’t have to go to sketchy sites to download songs. Instead I was getting albums sent to me unsolicited because I just might listen to it and write about it. I felt important. The feeling here lasted much longer than it did with leaks. I didn’t have to worry about links getting broken because of DMCA takedowns or emails from labels threatening legal action. The words were enough and they were eternal.

I still write about music today. I’ve contributed to a number of publications and haven’t leaked an album in almost 5 years. I’ve never even considered it. I’m in a place where artists, managers, and publicists trust me with their livelihood. They send me their songs trusting that I won’t put them online. I know that doing so could seriously jeapordize their marketing plans and corresponding income. I’m bigger than that. I’m not a villian. I’m a fan of music. Promoting and sharing my taste with others is reward enough. The perks of music journalism are just a plus.

Do I still download music without paying for it? Certainly. But thinking back on the last year of my life in music, I can’t think of a single instance where I didn’t later purchase the artists’ full release. If I want to hear a song now, I can pull up Rdio and listen to it. I pay $10/month to the service and the artist gets a small payout for the play. If I love it, I’ll seek it out on vinyl to add to my collection. I take up Soundcloud download offers when I find them and only rip songs from streaming services if they are no longer available (I’m still an avid demo hunter).

My life as a digital pirate is drawing closer and closer to an end every year. With advancing technology and a deep sense of admiration and respect for my industry’s peers, I have no need for it anymore. I think that this rings true with a lot of fans as well. A majority of the sites I named about no longer exist due to a lack of interest. Even the existing torrenting communities like what.cd are withering away with declining traffic and membership.

In the end convenience is key and if there are better, more legal, alternatives for listening to music, people will take them. Streaming services like Spotify, Rdio, and YouTube are clear indicators of that. The benefits to these serves opposed to piracy are numerous and are topic for another day.

I’m not completely ashamed of my piracy history. It got me to where I am. I learned valuable lessons about art and property through my experience and I think I’m better for it. The Jolly Roger has been lowered and my tri-cornered cap has been hung in the locker of Davy Jones. I won’t be fetching it again.

Savvy?

x Rackham

Categories
News

Journalism Tips #8 ‘Don’t Let The Internet Ruin Your Feature’

One of the most exciting things about starting a new column is seeing how you, our readers, engage with the content and help shape it moving forward. In the weeks since Journalism Tips launched we have been inundated with requests for columns on various aspects of the music writing world, and we plan to tackle each one over time. If you have any questions about developing as a writer/blogger in music, please do not hesitate email james@haulix.com and share your thoughts. We can also be found on Twitter and Facebook.

We talk a lot about music piracy and the way it impacts the lives of artists, but album leaks have a way of hurting writers as well. The Rolling Stones of the world may be able to rely on their hundreds of thousands of dedicated readers to support them day in and day out, but writers on the rise and sites just starting to develop their brand rely heavily on features and exclusive content to help bring attention to their efforts. When albums leak in advance of their intended release date the content writers have planned is likely to suffer a drop in appeal. Song premieres are usually the worst hit, but even reviews and interviews can see a dip depending on when the album leaks in relation to its street date and whether or not people seem to like it.

There is not much you can do to prevent pirates from leaking music aside from not supporting or promoting their efforts, but there are ways to alter your original content plans to pull in readers regardless of an album’s availability online.

Address the leak and explain how your content will offer superior sound quality.

The one thing artists hate as much as seeing their music leak is seeing a poor quality version of their music leak. First impressions are everything, and that goes double when the decision of whether or not to spend money on something (in this case, an artist’s music) is concerned.

If you see content you plan to feature leak, take it upon yourself to begin promoting the quality of the audio you will be hosting through your various social networks. There may be a version of the album online, but you have the ‘studio version’ of the recording you plan to share.

A lot of artists take this additional promotional angle into their own hands by creating lyric videos or similar accompanying content in advance of planning exclusives. These artists should be your best friend and whenever you cross paths with them in real life you need to give them all the high fives your hands can stand because they ‘get it.’

I do not advise creating a blog post about the leak. No one (labels, publicists, artists, etc.) appreciates that stuff.

Go ‘Behind The Music’

When albums leak more than a few days before their scheduled release date, it’s possible your site will find itself with a song premiere fans are now less interested in than they were prior to the album leak. Your traffic will still see a bump, and you will most likely still receive a mention in press releases, but the young people who actually engage with the artist day in and day out will have already heard whatever exclusive you have planned. What they may not have heard, however, is the story behind the song. By requesting a quote from the artists on the inspiration for the song, or perhaps some information on the artist’s studio experience, you will be able to create more dynamic content that has a ‘cool’ factor which extends beyond the song at the center of the article.

You can also take things further and request an interview with artist, but time constraints may make such undertakings impossible.

Ask for a contest / something to expand your offering

One thing people love more than the allure of free digital music is the allure of free vinyl and/or concert tickets. Most people are willing to work with sites to create contests, and many have both tickets and physical copies of the album to give away. If a leak should occur, draft an original contest tie-in for the exclusive you are planning to run and ask if the band is interested in working with you. Most will see the opportunity as another way to detract attention from the leak and pounce.

Creativity goes a long way with this tip. I advise making those who want to enter share your content on various networks (tagging both you and the artist as part of their entry).

Prepare for the worst

We ran a column last week that advised every artist, regardless of genre or level of success, to create a plan of action in case their album should leak. Writers need to put similar contingency plans in place should their features be spoiled by the internet.

Whenever you have the opportunity to set up a song premiere or related exclusive with an artist, think ahead and ask yourself: “What would make this content irresistible to the band’s fans?” Your role as a music writer is more than copy and pasting code and album information from one page to another. Create something worth reading and, perhaps more importantly, something worth sharing. Readers will appreciate it and artists will too.

(Special thanks to Jonathan Barkan of Bloody-Disgusting and Jordan Mohler of Kill The Music for their help in creating this article.)

Exit mobile version