I’ll offer free Shpongle tickets for life, to any of our shows…. to anyone who can find out where the leak came from. Obviously we sent out our promo CDs to press and distributors in confidence, and would therefore like to know if any of them have let us down…
Obviously we sent out our promo CDs to press and distributors in confidence, and would therefore like to know if any of them have let us down…
Here’s a suggestion if you haven’t already done so. Next time you send out promos send a slightly different one to each recipient. That should let you know exactly who’s responsible for the leak.
I believe the leak was first uploaded to a private music tracker called What.cd. The guy who released it is called “losit” it looks like in case that nickname rings a bell for you Simon (probably doesn’t).
What.cd is probably the king of all kings for uploading music. I knew someone would post the Shpongle album fast because there was about a 50GB bounty for the album. The album was posted 3 days and 15 hours ago. I’m pretty sure it was the first place leaked.
From reading torrent comments I don’t believe this guy has an actual CD or else we would see lossless FLAC copies posted.
Someone else made another upload but it isn’t much different then the original upload, just different encoding. Here is a message he left on the torrent comment area:
“No dude, I don’t have the CD, the V0 is a modified scene release
(I would’ve left the original scene, but the tag were a mess)”
Did you send out any digital copies Simon?
Edit: Just noticed the post above. Maybe what.cd wasn’t the first place to get it… Who knows at this point…
Here’s a suggestion if you haven’t already done so. Next time you send out promos send a slightly different one to each recipient. That should let you know exactly who’s responsible for the leak.
Yeah, The Prodigy have done that with their last album, so, when it hits the internet - they know which copy was leaked.
BTW. Is it really a big problem? Mp3 pirating will be forever, but anybody who really enjoys the album will buy it.
I think finding the culprit is going to be next to impossible without professional help. Way to many variables along with the cost of an international lawyer who would need to be able to make a solid case factually against someone. I’m not sure how digital timestamps work but maybe downloading everything you can find on the net and comparing timestamps might narrow down the search. I bet a good net detective would have the tools that we don’t have that could probably produce reliable results in this search.
I think the money that would be needed to investigate and prosecute a case like this would be better spent on self promotions after the release date. Unfortunately nowadays a band or artist has to rely on ticket sales, t-shirts and other merchandise to squeeze out a profit after an album release. Or smart sales tricks like buy one CD get any other CD in the store for 1/2 off or buy a CD and get a digital album download of your choice for $1. That’s what I would do, get the word out and find ways to get fans to buy stuff from the Twisted store.
I’m all for developing a method to alter the promo CD’s but how many CD’s are we talking about. If it’s only a few then develop an algorithm that shortens or lengthens each track by a fraction of a second and make each CD unique. This sounds like something a good programmer could create and make a good profit from if it hasn’t already been done and copyrighted. A program that sits between the master WAV file and the burning hardware would do the trick. Who knows, this might be a million dollar idea…
spartacus mills from UK was selling the promos on ebay around a month before Hallicinogen In Dub - Live was officially released, for dirt cheap (I don’t think many people saw). I didn’t see him selling any Shpongle, though.
I bought one and can confirm it was the real deal.
I believe the leak was first uploaded to a private music tracker called What.cd. The guy who released it is called “losit” it looks like in case that nickname rings a bell for you Simon (probably doesn’t).
What.cd is probably the king of all kings for uploading music. I knew someone would post the Shpongle album fast because there was about a 50GB bounty for the album. The album was posted 3 days and 15 hours ago. I’m pretty sure it was the first place leaked.
From reading torrent comments I don’t believe this guy has an actual CD or else we would see lossless FLAC copies posted.
Someone else made another upload but it isn’t much different then the original upload, just different encoding. Here is a message he left on the torrent comment area:
“No dude, I don’t have the CD, the V0 is a modified scene release
(I would’ve left the original scene, but the tag were a mess)”
Did you send out any digital copies Simon?
Edit: Just noticed the post above. Maybe what.cd wasn’t the first place to get it… Who knows at this point…
What is a ‘modified scene release’?
Anyway, i’ve moved on…. those that will buy it will buy it… but it would make me very angry if someone we trusted had uploaded it (ie a journalist or distributor) so if anyone wants to try and find the source, i’m still offering free shpongle tickes for life…. but no worries, i doubt it is even possible….
Modified scene release means he downloaded it, changed the id3 tags, then uploaded it again. Basically he did something completely useless because he felt his own style was better than the original one.
Soundvision,
what.cd is never the first place to get scene releases.
Simon, I think it was someone you trusted, unless you sent the CD to someone you don’t, but I don’t think you did.
Perhaps the guy tried to help Shpongle uploading the album? Like free promotion, but he didn’t know what he was doing. Because I read something about the album, like a promotion, talking about each track and how great it was, and he offered a video of the track “Ineffable Mysteries”, the full leaked version.
Too bad this happened, but as you said, the better thing to do is to move on. And if possible find the guy who did it
Modified scene release means he downloaded it, changed the id3 tags, then uploaded it again. Basically he did something completely useless because he felt his own style was better than the original one.
Soundvision,
what.cd is never the first place to get scene releases.
Yeah, I just now noticed that reading the earlier posts. I would say What.cd was responsible for getting it to the masses. What.cd was probably the tipping point from what I could tell. Either way it doesn’t really matter at this point.
Modified scene release means he downloaded it, changed the id3 tags, then uploaded it again. Basically he did something completely useless because he felt his own style was better than the original one.
Soundvision,
what.cd is never the first place to get scene releases.
I have to concur. This was definitely NOT hosted first on a torrent site at all. I saw this first appear on the 16th on the russian free ddl sites like rghost.ru and narod.ru and then quickly moved on to rapidshare and what.cd and what not.
You are probably not going to find the culprit as this was not a scene release. Plus those guys will never squeal on their suppliers.
Unless friends of the individual speak up, there will probably not be any recourse.
