Background facts: I bought the new Arcade Fire LP, Neon Bible (pictured above), by mail order off Merge Records. The LP came with a code for 3 free mp3 album downloads. Since I am not 3 persons, I used the code once, gave one use to a friend, and put one up on the blog on first come first get basis.
Stacy "Spott" Philpott, I just found out, happens to be the Label Manager. Not a busy job I suppose.
5 messages
| Stacy Philpott | Fri, Jun 15, 2007 at 11:53 AM |
| To: knkisser@gmail.com |
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| Pierre Trudeau | Fri, Jun 15, 2007 at 1:14 PM |
| To: Stacy Philpott |
| Your point? [Quoted text hidden] | |
| spott | merge | Fri, Jun 15, 2007 at 2:08 PM |
| To: Pierre Trudeau |
my point is you’re in effect stealing a record (given to merge records’ vinyl customers in good faith) and then giving it to some random person.[Quoted text hidden] [Quoted text hidden] | |
| Pierre Trudeau | Fri, Jun 15, 2007 at 3:23 PM |
| To: spott | merge |
| Wtf? Let me get this straight. So I bought vinyl from you guys, you gave me the mp3 album, three downloads free. I give one to a random person if you will, and that offends you? Fuck that. I BOUGHT THE VINYL, I DID NOT STEAL IT, and I am offended you will suggest so. If you did not want me to give the download to someone, why give me 3 free downloads? Please explain because you just put me off ever buying records off your site - which I happen to do regularly. This is why folks think record companies are evil. [Quoted text hidden] | |
| Pierre Trudeau | Fri, Jun 15, 2007 at 3:26 PM |
| To: spott | merge |
Oh maybe it's not your record company and you're just some overzealous internet browsing at work freak who works there. I am really offended you will suggest I stole an album that I bought. I am sending your email along with a photo of the album seating in my vinyl collection to your bosses. Just cos I run a music blog don't mean I don't buy records ok?
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15 Comments:
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that sucks! can't believe they pulled that on you. oh well. come to think of it, i bought the album off merge, and i don't remember getting any codes for mp3's. hmm....i should check.
great site, btw.
That's just wrong, not to mention absurd. So they GAVE these to you when you BOUGHT a record, and now they want to tell you how to use them? No wonder record companies are in trouble.
Really like your blog, too.
A lot of what you post on your blog is live/rare material. I'm sure I'm not alone in saying that when you post something commercially available on your blog that I like, I do everything I can to track down the album. Your blog and others have turned me on to some great music in the last few years that I wouldn't have found otherwise. In your last post, you publicized a site that maybe people didn't know about, an alternative to the big box media outlets. They should be grateful for the free publicity.
Surely you're not going to use three downloads yourself, so why give you three? Of course you'd use one yourself and give two to friends, only in this case, one friend is someone who reads your blog. The code only worked once, so it's not like anyone was stealing anything. Based on the response you received, I won't ever patronize this site, and I hope other readers of your blog won't either. We'd be better off shopping at Best Buy if that's the attitude they're going to have. Hell, we'd probably pay less at Best Buy, too. Sorry to see they're giving you such a hard time--they should realize a good thing when they see it.
Thanks for confirming my worst ongoing fears. Labels will never learn that their artists are not commodities to be exploited. This is why many are turning to MySpace and their own web sites rather than rely on labels to produce their product. And historically this is the root of many wonderful one-hit (if even) groups dissolving: their labels' fuckups.
"Absolute power corrupts absolutely." An observation that a person’s sense of morality lessens as his or her power increases. The statement was made by Lord Acton, a British historian of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
"The love of money is the root of all evil." All wrongdoing can be traced to an excessive attachment to material wealth. This saying comes from the writings of the Apostle Paul.
Keep up the good fight.
-Stupiddle
They can't give you something as a selling point then claim that you are abusing it if you use it! That's not right. If they want to reconsider their offer then that's something they should do on their own. Can't believe they harassed you Pierre. You actually gave them a good chunk of money and additional publicity. Wow. I still haven't bought the album... Not really a big fan of Arcade Fire.hmmmm maybe I will keep it that way.
As someone else said, this is the sort of thing that makes you despair of the stupidity of record companies,
Here's what the response should have been.
"Hey, that's a neat idea. Thanks for telling folks about our record. Here's a copy of something else for you to give away."
When will these people learn?
PS Why not tell folks about this episode here on the Merge Records forum?
It would be interesting to see how long it stays there.
Pierre, I can't believe this .
They are f##### stupid or what ?
I think that's the most stupid thing I ever read in my life.
Record companies no longer see themselves as in the business of selling records. They now believe they are selling you a licence to listen to the music they issue on whatever restrictive terms and conditions they care to apply. What they seem incapable of noticing is that the more restrictions they apply on legal sales, the more people will turn to illegal but unrestricted sources instead.
At least you got your free download. I recently got hold of a copy of Elvis Costello's "North" CD. This comes with a link to a free download of the title track (which, perversely, is not on the CD). The only trouble is, the file doesn't seem to be on Elvis's website any more. So if anyone has a copy...
I agree with you, but think you over-reacted a little.
Well Sean D, I have a tendency to over-react when called a thief.
I got a headache just reading that exchange. Once you own the item, I don't see why you can't give it away. It's like a gift certificate or something. It's a tangible thing and you made it a gift. It's not like you were selling it. The part that surprises me the most is that that guy is the label manager. I mean, apprarently anyone can do that job. I nominate me - mostly because of how awesome I am.
pierre is in the right, both legally and ethically. still, it seems to me that the more apt analogy would be if the seller said "buy one chocolate bar at full price and i'll give you three free", you cut that deal and paid him for the four chocolate bars, and he then told you that if you didn't eat them yourself, it was the same as stealing them! after all pierre PAID the record company and PURCHASED the downloads along with the vinyl copy. That was the deal.
the merge rep's ridiculous attitude runs contrary to many decades of settled US property and copyright law, which permits free disposition of goods in secondary markets.
i agree with the post by private beach above, that the attitude of the merge rep shows the way record companies -- big and small, major and indie -- are now conceptualizing their business. ultimately, they want to be able to control (read "charge for") every private playback of a song. fortunately for us all, the technology isn't able to support that restriction.
wm2007
The entire paradigm of music exchange is changing so rapidly that the record companies are literally become obsolete before their own eyes. The sheer wrong-headed-ness of the label rep's "theft" accusation is so mind-bogglingly stupid, that it seems that the record companies are incapable of even a basic grasp of the new paradigm.
Someone suggested an excellent example of the appropriate response..."thanks for the promotion, here's more stuff to give away".
Once the labels accede some level of control, and understand the dynamics of cross-promotion, they'll might be able to save themselves from becoming dinosaurs.
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