If you have time I would love for you to answer this question. I'm doing a project on Music Piracy and I'm trying to see if it has benefited smaller artists. I was wondering if you have seen any dramatic increases in the number of Devin fans and cd sales since online downloading became a big thing. Do you think music downloading overall has effected Devin in a negative way or a positive way?

I really would love to have your opinion on this. Thanks!

This is a great question...personally I downloaded a few tracks off Infinity, and ended up buying every single DTB and Strapping CD since.

This is a great question...personally I downloaded a few tracks off Infinity, and ended up buying every single DTB and Strapping CD since.

Yeah same here. I downloaded Terria from a friend and got hooked. I have since purchased 2 Devin shirts, 1 SYL Shirt, 1 Devin sweatshirt, and every cd. And I have seen SYL everytime they come around live since I got into them.

But yeah, it would be great to get your opinion Tracy!

same for me. If it wasn't for the internet and downloading music, I never would have gotten into Devins music. Now I own most of his releases (still working on getting everything) I'm interested in Tracys and Devins opinion on this, though.

IMHO downloading music helps the lesser known acts get some publicity and increasing their sales afterwards, seeing as they are usually appreciated by the more hardcore music fan, which is willing to spend money on music of a lasting value as opposed to popular artists endorsed by big labels, which I imagine taking damage from downloading.

Aye, I'm in this boat as well. A friend downloaded a few of Dev's albums last February for me (I didn't know anything about downloading then so I had to get someone else to do it for me..). Since then I've gotten every CD, 5 Dev shirts and 2 SYL shirts, and am currently sticking away a few quid here and there for some more merch whenever the new album/t-shirts come along. Also, finding out about Dev helped me to discover other musicians. I got stuff by Ayreon, James Murphy, Stuck Mojo and GWAR because of Dev's connections with them. So in my case at least downloading those initial albums was a good thing.

[JuZ]

Ditto. If my cousin hadn't downloaded a couple of songs from City I may never have heard of Dev (other than my dusty old Sex & Religion CD). I now buy every CD I can and have purchased quite a few pieces of merch.

[Tracy]

It definitely helps for spreading the word but having whole albums available, especially a month before release is crippling.

[JuZ]

It definitely helps for spreading the word but having whole albums available, especially a month before release is crippling.

I can imagine. That's a nasty little Catch 22 and I wish I were inventive or insightful enough to come up with a solution!


Alas, I'm not.

If someone had the time and money, he should make a "tracking" of sort on each promo sent out. A combination of tiny blipps or something, hidden in the mix somewhere. When a promo surface the net pre-release date, the source could be indentified and the uploader gently spanked.

After the final touch in mastering, tracks should be saved and put in a vault, where kept until the release. Number of people with access should be minimized. Then for the promos someone should take 15 minutes extra and fuck with the EQs, take out bass or smack an annoying delay over drums or something. Maybe leave 30 secs into the song untouched, then gradually mutilate it. It should give the listener a taste of what the album is about, but as a whole it would basically be unlistenable. Or something. There should be a way.

If someone had the time and money, he should make a "tracking" of sort on each promo sent out. A combination of tiny blipps or something, hidden in the mix somewhere. When a promo surface the net pre-release date, the source could be indentified and the uploader gently spanked.

Reminds me of what the Darkness frontman did, all their Promos for the second album had a specific code (or something like that) so when he noticed one on ebay before the release of the album he paid a fair amount of money to buy it himself to find out who had tried to sell it on and spread it....doesnt help with internet leaks though...

Heh, that's pretty nifty...

I'm all for downloading and all, hell, I do it all the time to check out new stuff. But to have your whole album on the net sometimes months before the release is, well, not cool. Spoils the "surprise", so to speak.

The journalist who leaked Dimmu Borgir's new album got nabbed by teh balls. The promo copy he got was watermarked and it was traced back to him after it was leaked. So watermarks dun stop leaking, but they certainly result in the spankage of the bold boys and girls who leak it...

another idea would be to release it in a format which is harder to digitise. Cassettes and vinyls are trickier, but not impossible.


I remember when promo time came around for Rammstein's Rosenrot cd. They made the journalists come to them, listening to the album through portable CD players. They sealed the players shut and fixed the earphones in the socket so the album couldn't be captured off onto minidisc or laptop.

Another thing would be reducing the amount of time between promo copies being sent out and release. Possibly.

[JuZ]

another idea would be to release it in a format which is harder to digitise. Cassettes and vinyls are trickier, but not impossible.


I remember when promo time came around for Rammstein's Rosenrot cd. They made the journalists come to them, listening to the album through portable CD players. They sealed the players shut and fixed the earphones in the socket so the album couldn't be captured off onto minidisc or laptop.

Another thing would be reducing the amount of time between promo copies being sent out and release. Possibly.

I'm guessing the problem there would be that journos would want enough time to listen to the albums, get their reviews written etc. etc. and pre-release promo generally can be a significant factor in initial sales.