East Bay Ray of The Dead Kennedys and I had an informal bet going. Well maybe not a bet, just a sort of prediction that once Ray spoke against ad supported piracy at SF Music Tech, the music tech bloggers would start with the usual name calling.
Sure enough right on cue we see Bruce Houghton’s Hypebot giving Mike Masnick (see the “Google Shill List”) a platform to bash Ray and other artists. “Whining” “Old” “Grumpy” and “Rant” were some of the unfair and unbalanced terms that Ray and I predicted they would use in the de rigueur post–SF Music Tech cyber bullying. And they did.
This is pretty sad since ending ad supported piracy is a no-brainer—even Google and Yahoo! fall over themselves to try to explain their unexplainable connection (see USC Annenberg Innovation Lab report). Both artists and the legitimate music tech firms are negatively affected by ad supported piracy. For instance legitimate music streaming services have to compete against these same unlicensed services for ad revenue. Why the music tech space bloggers fail to grasp this is a mystery.
Bruce Houghton also owns the talent agency Skyline Agency. This agency tends to have a lot of “Old” and “Grumpy” artists that would probably go on a “Rant” if they were to see that their agency head is tacitly defending this practice. So we prepared a few screenshots.
Any comment Bruce? Do you think that this practice is acceptable? How do our “future” music models like streaming compete with the guys that don’t pay any royalties to artists? We’re all ears.
Pure Prairie League piracy brought to you by BMW.
Al Stewart By Celestion and zZounds.
The Smithereens By Priceline
Grand Funk Railroad By Banana Republic, Amazon and others.
The Trichordist 
When did being a pirate become ok? The definition is quite clear.
It’s criminal behaviour.
“pirate |ˈpīrət|
noun
a person who attacks and robs ships at sea.
• a person who appropriates or reproduces the work of another for profit without permission, usually in contravention of patent or copyright : [with adj. ] software pirates.”
A pirate is a robber who profits from the work of someone else.
Obviously, some moral ground has been lost in civilized society, and “getting away with it” has become a business practice. These people who identify with, and support, digital pirates are equally guilty of the crime of piracy.
Why would anyone defend legit advertisers on sites receiving thousands of take down notices a month from artists being abused by others profiting from their work without compensation?
Free is one thing, scam artists ripping off musicians and filmmakers is something else entirely.
Great Art, made in American, sold by foreign criminals.
I believe in open discussion and Hypebot publishes many views. In fact, it is a core part of it’s mission. Most musicians, including those represented by Skyline, understand and appreciate that,
I do not condone ad supported piracy any more than I condone cheap shots at musicians and writers.
Really then why do you repeatedly publish cheap shots at musicians?
The facts contradict your statements.
However let me take you at your word for a moment. If you genuinely agree with us that advertising supported piracy hurts artists you’ll have no problem adding your name to this open letter asking CEOs of major brands to stop advertising on sites. It’s the right thing to do for artists and its the right thing to do for the digital services that represent the future of the music industry.
http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/o/50260/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=9402