-Here is a re-post about that thing we call - PIRACY!!!-
Friday, April 24, 2009
Category: Music
Enforced regulation regarding internet piracy took a giant step
forward last week, with news that the operators of notorious torrent
site The Pirate Bay had been charged with digital theft by a Swedish
court, fined $3.6m and sentenced to one year each in jail.
The news was welcomed by the creators of Glasgow-based Kerchoonz.com,
the first integrated social networking and media site to legally
enable streaming and download of music, videos and on-line games
whilst paying the artists and creators of music.
Co-founder of Kerchoonz.com and renowned US artist Indiana Gregg, has
had personal conflict with The Pirate Bay. She says, “As a performing
artist myself, I take great offence with torrent sites making a profit
on the backs of musicians, who in turn, aren’t paid a penny. A small
number of torrent tracker sites, including The Pirate Bay, refuse to
do remove material on request and are arrogant enough to believe they
are above the law. Whilst I certainly would not wish anyone to be
incarcerated, this recent sentence sends a clear message to existing
and would-be file sharing hosts - illegal downloading is a crime, you
can be traced and sooner or later you will be prosecuted”.
Her argument isn’t that users should have to pay for downloads, quite
the opposite in fact. She reasons that users should be able to listen
to their favourite tracks for free, but that the artists should also
be given some form of payment.
Kerchoonz.com does just that. Scheduled to launch in June, it allows
users to access free downloads, whilst artists, whether
internationally acclaimed or as yet unsigned, are paid each time their
work is streamed or downloaded. Revenue gained by unobtrusive
advertising on the site is used to fund these payments, ensuring that
everyone benefits.
“Already over 32,000 have signed up”, says Indiana. “Although there
are obviously other sites out there who offer free legal downloads,
Kerchoonz.com is the first to absorb the offering into a social
networking environment, ensuring full integration with Facebook and
Twitter”.
It is inevitable that other, similar services will appear on the
internet over a very short space of time, as increasing numbers of
illegal file sharers are prosecuted or close down of their own accord,
before “The Internet Police” knock on their virtual door. This can
only spell good news for the thousands of artists who have, since the
dawn of the internet, been royally ripped off.
Kerchoonz, founded by Indiana Gregg and Ian Morrow in 2008, is a group
of veteran record producers, artists, songwriters, music and
technology industry professionals. Kerchoonz.com is a social
networking platform that allows free exchange of music, art, ideas and
entertainment. It enables fans to search and discover new music, play
games, meet people, watch and upload video, keep up with news and post
blogs.
Kerchoonz.com is an ad-funded model that allows artists and musicians
to be paid for their audio and video streams, as well as their free
downloads.doesn’t want to give their music away for free, they are
free to sell it and provide links to their on-line shop. But, they can
still opt to be paid for streams.
