BitTorrent site Demonoid.com downed by Canadian record industry

Popular BitTorrent site Demonoid.com has been taken offline after legal threats to its webhost by the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA). A message on the Demonoid front page reads: "The CRIA threatened the company renting the servers to us, and because of this it is not possible to keep the site online. Sorry for …

[James Summerson]

Canadian Record Industry?

Well, that's the last Rush bootleg I download...

[Rob Sked]

No, no . . .

. . . the Canadian Government has apologised for Bryan Adams on several occasions.

[Alastair Dodd]

Does any RIA

pay any notice to surveys or event facts? Of course not if they did that they wouldn't be able to keep raking the money to pay all the lawyers deserve - oops I mean artists.. sorry

[Anonymous Coward]

Sad, but...

This has happened before, with Suprnova, amongst others.

Good though Demonoid was, it'll be replaced before too long.

And since the servers don't actually hold any of the files anyway, it's fairly quick to set up new ones.

It's a fight the MP* and RI* groups can't win. When will they learn to use the tech, rather than fight it?

[Will Rubin]

Previous post said, "When will they learn to use the tech, rather than fight it?"

When you come up with a way to quantify the monetary gain brought by a particular technology, such as P2P _AND_ that gain outweighs the gains by continuing the their present course. Both these items are necessary for any shift by the labels.

Come on, this isn't difficult. It's just business trying to maximize profits.

[Greg]

Previous post said...

"When you come up with a way to quantify the monetary gain brought by a particular technology, such as P2P _AND_ that gain outweighs the gains by continuing the their present course.

"

Not too far from truth, but not right either.

More accurately, it would be when you come up with a way that, based on the xxAA estimation of probability distribution, has a gain that outweighs the expected gain they have from pushing their current agenda.

This is quite different: they are NOT trying to save their current business, which is doomed. They are trying to create a new ecosystem where they get MUCH MORE by locking everyone in, renting you something that costs less for much more (video-on-demand compared to physical rental, which is probably 10 times cheaper in the long run for them and is charged 3 times as much).

If they see a good probability that they can extract 5 times as much money as they did up to now by screwing everyone, coming up with a way, with P2P, to make up with certainty with their current revenue is not enough at all.

And that's why they don't convert.

Because otherwise, since the blanket licence system has been shown many times to guarantee a better revenue stream than the music industry ever had before, they would jump on it. But they want even more.

(that, and the fact that making the pie bigger is not necessarily a good thing for the majors if they get a much smaller share of it)

[Anonymous Coward]

Canadian Record Industry

Yeah, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Barenaked Ladies, The Tragically Hip, Bruce Cockburn, Leonard Cohen, Jeff Healey, Gordon Lightfoot, Pat Travers, Diana Krall, k.d lang, Rufus Wainwright, the Rheostatics, Crash Test Dummies, Cowboy Junkies, Avril Lavigne, Alanis Morissette, Shania Twain, Nelly Furtado, Celine Dion, Bachman Turner Overdrive (excuse the last few!) and many more.

I reckon that constitutes a record industry!

And no, I am not a Canuck

[Anonymous Coward]

They'll be back

Suprnova's been back for ages, oink is back already, demonoid will be back, shit happens

[JP]

Alright for Bryan Adams, but what about Celine Dion??

And anyway, if they want to stop piracy, they should probably go after those $4/disc stalls in certain shopping malls rather than online piracy. I know one stall, run by 3 people, who have 5 new Mercs between them! And it's not like a small shop, it's a prime, right-by-the-entrance 30m2 operation!

[Chris Pasiuk]

re: "When will they learn to use the tech, rather than fight it?"

They've tried that already. Just google up ziptorrent and Media Defender and you'll see what I'm talking about. The problem is, is that for every step they make P2P users counter it and keep going. MD's fake torrents yields IP block lists, traffic shaping yields encryption, now the hosts just need to move the servers to a Carribean hosting company like the gambling sites and that problem also goes away. Legal or not, people like the freedom and will continue to do what they've been doing.

[John]

Nice timing..

When it comes a couple days after this story:

Official: P2P music not harming Canada

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/11/05/birkbeck_canada_p2p_cd_sales/

Let the music industry keep on wiggling, with any luck it will kill itself and we can move forward without those dinosaurs clutching at their outdated views. Music certainly won't die it will just work around them :]

[James Summerson]

@ Anon

You forgot William Shatner in your list of Canadian artists...

Also, I own stuff on LP / CD / DVD by 10 of the artists you mention, as well as a few by Triumph, Saga, April Wine. Mahogany Rush & Voivod etc., etc. I'm not a Canuck, either btw.

I've never used Demonoid to d/l any of the above, as I bought it all legally, several times in fact, if you include LP / CD / Remasters / Special Editions! Anybody want a triple gatefold 'All The World's A Stage'?

[Anonymous Coward]

Avril Lavigne

It'll be her, first she starts bullying girls less attractive than her (Girlfriend vid) then she starts pushing hosting companies around, the one will always lead to the other.

[Anonymous Coward]

Partial Canadian Record Industry

Yeah, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Barenaked Ladies, The Tragically Hip, Bruce Cockburn, Leonard Cohen, Jeff Healey, Gordon Lightfoot, Pat Travers, Diana Krall, k.d lang, Rufus Wainwright, the Rheostatics, Crash Test Dummies, Cowboy Junkies, Avril Lavigne, Alanis Morissette, Shania Twain, Nelly Furtado, Celine Dion, Bachman Turner Overdrive (excuse the last few!) and many more.

I reckon that constitutes a record industry!

And no, I am not a Canuck

What about Thin Lizzy, Rush, Matt Minglewood, April Wine, Trooper, Chillowack, Kim Mitchell, Jeff Healey, Collin James, Helix ?

we don't have many bands but c'mon if you are gonna list them at least make an effort to get the majority of them lmfao

And How Can you forget Rita McNeil ? have you ever seen that woman ?

[ryan]

did you say Canadian record industry?

CRIA are an American owned & controlled organisation.

Hilariously, they actually have very little to do with the Canadian record industry. Just another litigation mill.

[Mr_Flibble]

Canada

The same Canada that have stupid levies placed on recordable media.

The same Canada where it is not illegal to download copyright material because of aformentioned levies.

The same Canada that the industry wants to change the law up the levies and give nothing back.

[Jeff]

And...

Joydrop, Ginger, I Mother Earth, Edwin and still many more. I have a lot of Canadian artists in my collection (I'm from the US). Am I one of the few who doesn't pirate and actually pays for my music? I know the labels get most of that money, but most of the artists I like are not mainstream, and this is one of the few ways I can support them.

[Tim Lake]

@Anonymous who listed Canadian artists

Hmm:

Neil Young - Not so young anymore

Joni Mitchell - A parking lot would have aliviated congestion on the outskirts of paradise!

Barenaked Ladies - No one outside Canada even knows they are still going

The Tragically Hip, Bruce Cockburn, Leonard Cohen, Jeff Healey, Gordon Lightfoot, Pat Travers, Diana Krall - Who?

k.d lang - Ok, that's 1

Rufus Wainwright - I already have anything good he will ever do

the Rheostatics - Who?

Crash Test Dummies - I already have that song they did :)

Cowboy Junkies - Another.. who

Avril Lavigne - Whiney, troublemaker. Canada can keep her

Alanis Morissette - Being bitter for 20 years isn't a music career.

Shania Twain - I don't do line dancing

Nelly Furtado - Ok that's 2

Celine Dion - You ARE joking?!

Bachman Turner Overdrive - If we ain't seen nothing yet, when will we?

So that's 2 canadian artists I really give 2 wotsits about!

[Anonymous Coward]

Summer of 69

What a time!

And Bryan Adams best hit.

[rge]

thats not right.., is it?

@ AC,

Thin Lizzy?? I Thought they were Irish??

[Piers]

"Your move freeloaders, eh?"

You obviously don't know any Canadians. They would say "Your move freeloaders, ay?"

[Anonymous Coward]

Blame Canada (sing along now)

You forgot Terence & Philip ......

"shut your stupid face - uncle plucker" ..... </deep joy>

does Brian Boitano count ?

Where's the Wayne Gretsky angle ? (New icon please)

[Mike]

@JP

"they should probably go after those $4/disc stalls in certain shopping malls"

er...would that be the Pacific Mall?

[Alex]

Re: Canadian Record Industry?

While the Rest Of Canada might put out a band every now and then that's able to score a hit, a substantial chunk of music bought in Quebec is home-grown. They might not be known in the English-speaking portions of North America, but they're still there.

[Morely Dotes]

@ Will Rubin

"Come on, this isn't difficult. It's just business trying to maximize profits."

So was Lucky Luciano. He wasn't all that popular with the general public, either.

[Ned Ludd]

Canadian English 101

You obviously don't know any Canadians. They would say

"Your move freeloaders, ay?"

Nope, it's spelled "eh?" but pronounced like the "ay" in "day" with a varying degree of inflection. You only get half marks ;-P

[Ned Ludd]

I Love Levies!

> The same Canada that have stupid levies placed on recordable media.

> The same Canada where it is not illegal to download copyright material

> because of aformentioned levies.

I didn't realise our levies had such a positive side effect... now I can download to my hearts content not only legally, but guilt-free too! God bless Celine Dion!

[Anonymous Coward]

Canadian Music Industry

Canada must be the worst contry in the world for entertainment.

Brian Adams, Shania Twain and the Police Academy Films.

Nuff Said.

Can't see bitorrent harming the Canadian entertainment industry, because they've never produced anything worth pirating since Rush.

[Law]

erm

Celine Dion?!?

May god have mercy on your souls...... for shame! :)

[eric polley]

The CRIA will plod on dispite the facts...

Good to see that in the face of evidence that downloaders actually encourage people to buy, the CRIA decides they know what's best for all. When will they learn?

Check out this study, on a Canadian Government eb site, that shows that downloaders are informed consumers, and the rest are the folks wo wouldn't have baught the album anyhow:

http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/epic/site/ippd-dppi.nsf/en/h_ip01456e.html

Arrrr

[Anonymous Coward]

@ anon re. They'll be back

oink isn't back up - http://tehpaine.blogspot.com/2007/10/scamsite-news.html

[Graham Lockley]

That rumbling sound...

.. you can hear is Phil Lynott spinning in his grave as some Canuck claims the band was Canadian !!

Whiskey in the Jar wasnt a reference to Canadian Club.

:)

[Dale Richards]

Canadian Music

I'd say Canada's current musical output is among the best, if not the best in the World (and I've never even been to Canada).

Alexisonfire, Arcade Fire, Bedouin Soundclash, Bell Orchestre, The Besnard Lakes, Broken Social Scene, Death From Above 1979, Feist, Final Fantasy, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Emily Haines, Holy Fuck, Metric, Most Serene Republic, The New Pornographers, Our Lady Peace, Stars, Tegan and Sara, Venetian Snares, Martha Wainwright.... These are just the ones I listen to. There are still plenty of others. Obviously, most of these have little, if anything to do with the CRIA, but the point is there is a lot of good music coming from Canada.

It's a bit stupid to judge the whole of the Canadian entertainment industry just on Bryan Adams, Shania Twain and Police Academy. It's like judging the whole of the British entertainment industry based on Chas and Dave, Cliff Richard and Little Britain.

[Anonymous Coward]

Canada very Entertaining

"Canada must be the worst country in the world for entertainment."

Rubbish - for at least half the year we have great fun building our igloos and for the rest of the time we get a great deal of entertainment looking at what our neighbour to the south is doing...at least until it starts to affect us!

[Rippy]

Culture of Piracy?

What with the levies that we put up with, I think we should talk with the CRIA about their Culture of Double-Dipping.

R.

[unfunk]

the "Canadian" Recording Industry Association

...is Canadian in name only: It's basically another front for the RIAA.

From Wikipedia:

"The Canadian Recording Industry Association is a non-profit trade organization that was founded in 1964 to represent the interests of American companies that create, manufacture and market sound recordings in Canada"

...yeah, I don't really believe that "non-profit" bit either

[Anonymous Coward]

Hmmmmm . . .

"And How Can you forget Rita McNeil? have you ever seen that woman?"

Nothing to see here, folks . . . move along.

[Dan]

CRIA...

Why did The Register break another one of its great traditions? Surely it should be the Canadain Recording Industry Ass.

Eh?

[Anonymous Coward]

tracker

'According to Demonoid's IRC channel, the BitTorrent trackers themselves have not been affected '

This seems to have changed. the message from utorrent reads

'No connection could be made because the target machine activley refused it'

[Andrew Sheehy]

Good Music - Bad Movies

For the record, I am a Canadian.

We here in Canada produce some the of the best English music in the world,,,and some of the worst movies. It has to be said. But don't confuse a movie shot in Canada with one produced in Canada.

For every Celine Dion we produce, there are 10 or more 'real' musical acts doing good work.

The joke here is that while Celine and Bryan Adams come from Canada it is the Brits and Yankees that buy their pap and make them international stars. Bwah ha ha.

And, countries that put out crap like Spice Girls and Pussy Cat Dolls should not hurl stones.

[Arthur Klassen]

What's their problem?

We've got a media levy. What are they doing shutting down torrents? They should go share out the levies and leave us all alone. They'd like to charge us money every time we whistle a happy tune if they happen to own the copyright on it. Scrooges.

[Jamie Davis]

@Andrew Sheehy

Yup, you're right.

We're all knocking out bad music. I defy anyone here to name an English-speaking country that hasn't produced an annoying artist/band at some time or another.

US - Justin T, Britney S, Pussy Cat Dolls

Britain - Girls Aloud, Spice Girls, Razorlight

Australia - Savage Garden, Rolf Harris (although he gets special dispensation because he doesn't actually take himself seriously) and numerous soap spin offs. *cough* Jason Donovan *cough* (depressingly the biggest selling artist in the UK in 1990)

Hmmm... New Zealand anyone?

I admit that people are going to download because it's free whatever the music. But... really... this kind of music has to be turning off a few people right?

P.S. Just checked Wikipedia. Thin Lizzy formed in Dublin in 1969. Although... that was from Wikipedia.

[Will Godfrey]

Not A problem

I never touch the commercial stuff anymore, and haven't done for several years. I download legally available (creative commons) music from hundreds of unique bands and performers around the world. This is from both live gigs and studio recordings. OK there's some crap but there's also material that totally blows the RIAA stuff away.

Oh, and I also make donations to artists in recognition.

[Darryl]

Don't forget Nickelback

Not that I like 'em much, but they're pretty big. I'd prefer to listen to Blue Rodeo or Great Big Sea if I want to listen to Canadian music.

And it IS "eh?". It's a shortened form of "hey?" and it's pronounced the same, minus the H

I just love that I have to pay 21 cents extra for every blank CD I buy to burn some vacation photos on because I COULD also be burning music on it, and therefore I have to pay the CRIA tax. It's actually cheaper to buy DVD-R's here than CD-Rs because there's no tax on DVDs (yet). On the other hand, the CRIA wants the levy removed, because then they can start suing people for recording music like their big brother the RIAA.

[Andrew Moore]

@Jamie Davis

"New Zealand anyone?"

OMC and some would include Crowded House/Split Enz

[Anonymous Coward]

If their music is so good...

... then why are their radio stations all crap?

I love Canada, it's a wonderful place, but I spent some time driving round it this summer (actually a lot of time, it's quite big), but honestly - the radio stations are mostly shite.

I'm going back again next year, so if anyone would like to recommend some decent ones in the Toronto / Montreal areas then I'm all ears.

[Jose Ordaz]

New Zeland?

"The Fligth of the Conchords"

[Joe Stalin]

Nightmare

Byran Adams and Celine Dion get together and produce a child. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Anonymous Coward]

More indignation

Apparently since so many of you don't listen to any commercial music and make donations to artists in recognition (yeah and I give shelter to the homeless, too) then why should this bother you? The trouble is all you folks have been too used to getting your entertainment fix for free which is really the true price you want everyone to compete with. Your arguments are absolutely disingenuous and often blatantly dishonest, if people can get away with paying fuck all, they will. The customer doesn't set the price, never has and never will. The price is set at whatever the companies think they can get away with. Your energies would be much better spent in less selfish pursuits, the profiteering in essentials like food, clothing and shelter is a true obscenity of the age.

[Graham Dawson]

the profiteering in essentials like food, clothing and shelter

Profiteering? These things have never been CHEAPER than today!

[Anonymous Coward]

@Canadian music industry

You forgot Venetian Blinds

[Kevin Kenny]

@Dale Richards

Good list....Canadian bands are some of the best kept secrets of the music industry. Add to the list cool stuff on the DripAudio label like Inhabitants. My current foobar2000 playlist is 30% canadian artists.

There was also a 70's new wave band called Payola$.

Kev

[Sam]

Irony...

Ironically, the RCMP (Canadian police type thingy ;) ) just announced they're not going after those that break copyright laws for thier own none profit purposes.

Demonoid, the piratebay, <insert one of the billion other trackers out there>, who cares, its not really a victory outside the PR world.

[Mectron]

CRIA is a puppet

Been manipulated by one of the most dangerous criminal cartel in the world today: The RIAA/MPAA.

No country is safe the digital mafia reign of terror and corruption, the proof? in Canada File Sharing is LEGAL. As every CD carry a 28 cents (approx) hidden taxe that (is supposed) to go back to artist. So the this move by the pathetic (and useless) CRIA is illegal and yet, they have been permited to do it.

[Anonymous Coward]

CRIA is a puppet

It's funny that they're called CRIA but they're not really representing even a majority of Canadian publishers!

[HyDef]

Insurgent CRIA

The Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA) isn't Canadian - at all. It doesn't represent the Canadian recording industry (all the major Canadian labels bailed last year). No respectable big-name Canadian music artist or group has anything to do with the CRIA.

The CRIA does represent the largest foreign-owned corporations that make up the RIAA (who totally control the CRIA and suck massive profits out of Canada), so they aren't interested what's good for Canadian recording artists.

In Canada, consumers pay a tax on every blank tape, CD and DVD and that tax is supposed to go to Canadian artists whose work is being copied. The CRIA is trying to get that law revoked so they can go after people who share files. In Canada, downloading is NOT illegal, and those who claim it is are legal morons. The CRIA attempted to charge some downloaders, but lost - bigtime - in court.

The CRIA operates in Canada as a group of "uninvited (and unwanted) insurgent mercenary thugs". The CRIA uses faked statistics to justify their actions and have been exposed for doing so a number of times. They don't pay taxes in Canada (they claim that they're a "non-profit group) but use offshore tax-free havens to hide their accounting practises from Canadian authorities.

The CRIA have the power of deep pockets, funded by the taxes on blank media that Canadian consumers have paid (and the profits from overpriced CD's and DVD's). And they use that power to threaten legitimate ISP's in Canada with legal action if they don't stop providing organizations like Demonoid with service. The ISP could probably win a court fight, but may be driven into bankruptcy by the cost of doing so.

In the schoolyard, kids that behave like the CRIA are called bullies - their authority is totally self-serving. Imagine going to the store and wanting to buy a loaf of white bread. If it was a CRIA store, you'd have to buy a loaf of bread with some white slices, some whole wheat, some sourdough and some really stale slices of leftover stuff.

If the CRIA wants legitimacy, they should support online downloads for a fee (which they don't) and provide those who are online with the access to the digital data they want to buy.

It's time for the RIAA/CRIA co-joined twins to enter the 21st century.