Ok folks, this is very sad, but after two and a half years I have decided to stop doing 17 Seconds.
I have received yet another takedown notice. Yet again, I have had my Festive Fifty post removed. For the record the Festive Fifty was:
1. The Wedding Present -'The Trouble With Men.'
2. MGMT -'Time To Pretend.'
3. The Bug -'Angry (featuring Tipper Irie).'
4. Aberfeldy -'Come on, Claire.'
5. Santogold -'My Superman.'
6. M.I.A. -'Paper Planes.'
7. Mogwai -'The Sun Smells Too Loud.'
8. The Kills -'Cheap And Cheerful.'
9. Dom DeLuca -'Birds Of Worry.'
10.Escape Act -'God Says.'
11.Hayman Watkins Trout And Lee -'Sly And The Family Stone.'
12.Jamie Lidell -'Another Day.'
13.Broken Records -'If The News Makes You Sad, Don't Watch It.'
14.RTX -'You Should Shut Up.'
15.Brigyn -'Haleliwia.'
16.HK119 -'Mind.'
17.Madonna -'Give It 2 Me.'
18.Cave Singers -'Seeds Of Night.'
19.Broken Records -'Lies.'
20.Mr. Beasley -'Right As Rain.'
21.Breeders -'We're Gonna Rise.'
22.Presets -'This Boy's In Love.'
23.How To Swim -'Genesis P. and Me.'
24.Estelle featuring Kanye West -American Boy.'
25.Dizzee Rascal featuring Calvin Harris and Chrome -'Dance Wiv Me.'
26.Jaguar Love -'Highways Of Love.'
27.Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds -'Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!'
28.Coldplay -'Viva La Vida.'
29.Rustie -'Mic Of the Year.'
30.Neon Neon -'I Lust You.'
31.Vampire Weekend -'The Kids Don't Stand A Chance.'
32.Buraka Som Sistema -'Kalemba.'
33.Hercules and Love Affair -'Blind.'
34.Duffy -'Mercy.'
35.Laura Cantrell -'Love Vigilantes.'
36.Ready Aim Fire -'So Fine.'
37.Cave Singers -'Dancing On Our Graves.'
38.Wiley -'Wearing My Rolex.'
39.Yo Majesty -'Club Action.'
40.Ting Tings -'That's Not My Name.'
41.Sons & Daughters -'Darling.'
42.British Sea Power -'Waving Flags.'
43.Friendly Fires -'Paris.'
44.Cat Power -'Metal Heart.'
45.K-Salaam & Beatnik -'Babylon (Must Be Mad).'
46.Breeders -'German Demonstration.'
47.Broken Records -'Slow Parade.'
48.It Hugs Back -'Work Day.'
49.Bloc Party -'Mercury.'
50.Hot Chip -'Ready For The Floor.'
The mp3s I had posted were as follows, so far as I can recall:
Mogwai, Dom DeLuca, Escape Act, Hayman Watkins Trout and Lee, Cave Singers, Mr. Beasley, Nick Cave, Rustie, Ready Aim Fire, Cat Power, as far as I can tell. All of these mp3s had been made available as free downloads LEGALLY which I had specified next to each mp3. This clearly wasn't enough.
Why people couldn't have emailed me, I don't know. This blog has been a labour of love. I have spent hours working on this at a time to help promote bands and write about the music I love. I have made it abundantly clear that I wanted people to buy the music that I wrote about. It is time that the RIAA and DMCA were disposed of. These represent nothing but money and have nothing to do with art or integrity. God help those responsible if i ever meet them.
Whoever ordered this post taken down: BURN IN HELL. I HAVE SPENT THE LAST TWO AND A HALF YEARS PROMOTING BANDS. YOU DO NOT EVEN HAVE THE COURAGE TO GET IN TOUCH VIA EMAIL, MUCH LESS FACE TO FACE. YOU ARE SICK, SICK SCUM.
I have sent this email to Blogger.
FOR CHRIST'S SAKE: IF YOU REMOVE THE POST HOW CAN I SEE WHAT THE PROBLEM WAS?
I HAVE MADE IT ABUNDANTLY CLEAR: IF YOU HAVE A PROBLEM EMAIL ME AND LET ME KNOW. YOU ARE VIOLATING MY INTELLECTUAL RIGHTS. ALL MP3S POSTED WERE AVAILABLE AS FREE DOWNLOADS.
DO NOT IGNORE THIS EMAIL. I WANT THE NAMES ADDRESSES AND EMAIL ADDRESSES OF THE PEOPLE WHO ASKED YOU TO DO THIS. HOW DARE YOU REMOVE THINGS CITING COPYRIGHT WHEN YOU DON'T TELL ME WHAT THE PROBLEM IS?
EVERY MP3 POSTED WAS AVAILABLE AS A FREE DOWNLOAD. YOU OWE ME A BIG APOLOGY. REINSTATE MY POSTS AND GIVE ME AN APOLOGY.
ED, 17 SECONDS
49 comments:
Shit.
I'm lost for words. What can I say to make you change your mind?
I dedicated a whole post to supprting you and the others affected by this crap, but it appears nobody is listening.
I can only suggest one thing: we boycott Blogger en masse, and move to another service.
Sorry, buddy, I can't write any more just now, as I'm truly choked by this, and have to organise my thoughts.
Tou have been vicitmised, and it's not fucking fair.
Ed,
This is a sad day or not just you, but for the loyal readers such as myself that have received so much enjoyment and comfort from 17 Seconds over the years. I hope you have a change of heart. If not...thanks for all of it. It's been a fantastic run.
Terry
Fits & Starts
Very sorry to hear that mate but understandable. It should be a labour of love not angst. Good luck and hope to see you on blogoshpere again.
Thanks for all the great features and giving me an exposure to music that I subsequently sought out and bought or went to see live.
Cheers, MikeB in Boston, MA.
It's a sad day, Ed. I can totally understand your frustrations. Perhaps you should consider using a non-Blogger/Google based set-up?
For what it's worth, Mogwai are notoriously cuntish when it comes to their mp3s ending on blogs (yes even though that song was a free download), so I'd bank on them being the ones to blame. You should email Stuart Braithwaite and ask him yourself: stuart@mogwai.co.uk
dear ed,
please don't. that's all i can't say. no begging, but an honest please don't. over the months/years i've discovered so many great acts via your blog. have you ever thought about changing the blog's provider? why not move over to wordpress? or some other company?
anyways, if that is really it: thank you! thank you! thank you!
Ed,
Don't do it. Calm yourself, wait a day or two. Give yourself a break over the holidays. Contact me and let's set you up on wordpress or something. Just don't make a decision out of anger and hate. Nothing good will come from feelings like that. Just don't.
xoxo,
Tart
Ed,
A sad day indeed. Hopefully an alternative can be found but after all the shit you've been put through (FUCK GLASVEGAS!), you must be feeling pretty wrung out. Thanks for the words & the songs & hope to see you next year!
All the best
Chris
Ed, your blog has been a massive inspiration and I don2t blame you ata ll for wanting to quit.
Bands who persist in this kind of behaviour will fail in the future, because the music industry has changed and they'll be killing any exposure they might get. I will never invest money or even listening time in Glasvegas, for example, and hope others do the same.
In a way I hope you don't change your mind because I want people to realise that blogs like this could have made a difference to the careers of upcoming bands who will lose out and at some point have to beg people to give them exposure. It's sad.
You will be greatly missed.
Ed,
another vote of support. You do not deserve this shit from the shower of small-minded chiselers that seem to represent artists these days.
You've got to do what you feel is right. But I hope you carry on. The blog has always got something that I want to download or comment on.
cheers, Craig
Ed
I'm really sorry about this. The facelessness of your censor is the worst thing, the inability to have ANY dialogue to make sense or amend if desired. I can appreciate the huge sense of anger, frustration, why the fuck should I bother any more.
Try and put all this down for a few weeks, have a nice Christmas, and busy yourself with 17 Seconds Records if you need to do music related stuff... I'm sure that could keep you very busy.
The advice given by a Tart is very sound. You DON"T have to do any of this again, but you have given many people a lot of pleasure, introducing us to sounds we would probably never have heard otherwise.
Ken
Shame shame shame
Ed, I hope you find out the c***s that dobbed you in, it's totally counter productive. I've discovered a few bands from your blogs and BOUGHT their records as a result, Wake the President, Broken Records and Glasvegas to name a few. Don't give up, fight it!
Yeah, pause, and regroup, and return. If you were to move host you can import all of your writing from here into Wordpress at the touch of a button so you would be retaining your past as part of your future and could then delete the blogger account leave it all behind. The DMCA do still find things on Wordpress but there doesn't seem to be the concerted effort that's clearly focussing on Blogger at the moment - and Wordpress will actually talk to you, on a one to one basis, about what's going on.
Good luck with whatever you decide, Ed, have a relaxed last few days of school, a lovely Christmas, a good new year, and we all look forward in hope to reading more of you soon.
x
Take a break, go somewhere else, like Wordpress for instance. Post links in comments, just don't give it up.
I've had quite a few takedowns myself these past two weeks - latest count 7. But to give up is what they want from the blogging folks
Just take a step back and pick it up again later. That would be my advice.
Let me echo all those who have left comments before me and reiterate what a shame this is. If you decide to end your blog, ultimately it's your decision to make but it would be a total shame. I have been most impressed by your passion/enthusiasm for music and the way you articulate on your blog. You will be sorely missed...but please don't lose faith.
Laurie in Boston
Ed,
You know how I, as a indie record label owner, feel about my bands getting coverage on 17 Seconds.
> Perhaps you should consider using a non- Blogger/Google based > set-up?
Yeah, why not do this? Then your posts could not be removed, right?
Gav
www.letterboxrecords.com
Ed,
Solidarity, comrade. You are witnessing it here. Support is on hand. Shoulders as well.
Most reasonable people recognise that copyright is copyright is copyright. You know, hands up if promotion and exposure is somehow seen as 'theft'. But why can't it also be recognised that a free legal download is a free legal download?
And, similarly, your work is your work - text, images, whatever. For example, I'm still waiting for my text and image to be returned via the M83-related takedown notice I received. I suspect I'll be waiting a long time.
You know, having killed two previous MP3 blogs - and now come back to a Version 3.0 - I am loathe to jump off a cliff again with ABTFK but it seems our colelctive days are getting few and precious.
But, do count to ten. And then another ten before drastic (if very understandable) measures are taken...
Hang on pal.
Colin.
PS, My personal approach, from now on, is to post music not on the major labels - whether 'old' or 'new' releases. I'm not sure how this will work out but it's my way of 'dealing'.
A sad day Ed - thanks for all your help and kind words. All the best, Rob.
What a sad day. Your writing and insight will be missed by all
An additional point in Wordpress' favour - (and this is just using wordpress like you would use blogger, I know that you can alternatively download wordpress as a package and find your own host which would be simpler still) - I've had two DMCA notices, both have led to posts being pulled without notice to me, but Wordpress have said, in email conversation with a real person there, that as long as the offending link is removed, that's all they're worried about, and as soon as I'd done that the post was 'returned' to me and was available to 'repost' without that link - so they don't take your writing away. (although with the second notice they actually 'suspended' the whole blog until I'd taken the link down, but it was all restored straight away afterwards, and both times the process didn't take long - an hour or so with the first one, less than a day with the second.) They also, quite sweetly, acted concerned "You do seem to have a lot of music linked to, please make sure you have permission".
Hi Ed,
I'm sad to hear that you will no longer be posting. Blogger, and all the rest of them totally SUCK. I switched over to my own domain a few months ago and never looked back. Many great bloggers have had their blogs shut down for no good reason whatsoever....and there's no goddamn customer service number for these things. Anyway, thanks for doing the post on Kim Cameron/Side FX band. Appreciate it. Good luck.
What more to say Ed, except that I too would urge you to sit back and reconsider. Listen especially to Tart. Don't let the terrorists win.
I think a mass defection to self-hosted Wordpress is the way to go. That and boycott Glasvegas...
yep. its a shame but I sent u email commending u and u never replied so..all the best.
Hi guys
thanks for all your emails. Feeling pretty miserable right now. Anonymous, sorry if I never replied to your email, but know that it was gratefully received.
there seem to be folk who want me to continue, perhaps on a different server...I'll think about it. I wish I had the knowhow to take this to the press and explain what has happened.
Thanks to everyone for their support.
Ed x
No, no, no, no for the 13th time. First time I've posted here, but read avidly daily. I think you owe it yourself not to take this. As you said, the hours and effort you have put into this deserves a fight to the bitter bloody end.
Keep mailing those gimps until you receive an answer. i'm sure it feels like, with so many blogs out there, it's no big deal to them to be rid of another one. However, what starts out with over 50 blogs added to my favourites, soon gets whittled down to about 10, where religiously i devour everything that's posted, though that doesn't always mean I download. In fact Watsui is the only one I've backed up from you in over a year visiting this site.
I think it's oddly ironic that the episode with Glasvegas seems to have started this. mail those fuds too, see what they say. Without sounding wet, what would you say to a student that was gonna give up on their quest, as it were ?
Mike, Gothenburg
Dearest Ed,
everything I would want to say has already been said above. You blog has been a true inspiration for me and everyone else, therefore I am absolutely convinced that you wouldn't lose many followers with moving to (for example) Wordpress. It's just a question of letting people know about your move, and you may well believe me when I say that ALL of us would do our utmost to achieve this on a daily basis.
Sit back, relax, enjoy your Christmas and think about the whole thing again after New Year's Eve.
Oh, and finally start drinking: all of this is a good opportunity to do so, if there ever was one!
All the very best, mate!
Dirk from Sexyloser
Hey Ed,
That sucks. Whoever the gutless whiner was who complained is a confused, narrow minded person indeed.
I've really appreciated all the support you've shown me and my music over the past year. It's been a terrific blessing. I can only echo what others have posted and encourage you to re-think your decision to stop blogging.
We're in your corner.
Dom.
PS Happy Holidays and, again, thank you.
I really hope you reconsider, Ed. I haven't read all the above comments but I'm guessing they're all saying the same. Having had some posts removed myself I know how you feel and I've also considered quitting. The trick is not to take it personally. The reason they don't write to ask you to remove links is because it would take too much time and effort, so they use the blunt instrument of the DMCA Takedown Notice and as far as 'they' are concerned it's problem solved.
Don't let them win Ed. I fought the law and the law won- spirit of the song, not the actual lyric. Fuck 'em. Fuck Glasvegas as well.
It's your call, Ed, but I'd listen to the folks recommending some cooldown time before you make a final decision.
You do some damn fine work here, and it would be a shame to let the bastards put an end to it with this nonsense.
I'm really depressed now Ed... Don't give up, don't let them win. As other folks said, there's always an alternative. rtry switching to wordpress for starters and see how it goes... I've stopped putting mp3s of major bands just in order to avoid the whole DMCA Takedown Notice (even then I still got a couple of warning e-mails), so you might consider that as well. If people like you stop doing this service as a labour of love, the radio will be taken over by the Paris Hiltons and Britney Spears of the world. You have my utmost support,
So long and thanks for all the fish...
Ed,
Don't let the bastards grind you down!
Re-group,reassess,react and get it right up them....
ck
Ed
please keep it going if you can; I only found your blog recently but have enjoyed all I read. Maybe put the mp3 links in the comments for a while while you're still at blogger?.
Best of luck
Andy
ah fucksticks, kinda saw this coming with the repeated harassment from the stupidest bastards on earth, hope you change your mind but i understand where your are coming from, i hope this from the vinyl villain vis armageddon time cheers you up
"And Bitter Andrew, who recently changed the style, lay-out and modus operandi of Armagideon Time (ie no more mp3s) let me know of the contents of this e-mail :-
'Hi guys, the marketing team at Columbia Records just wanted to update our contacts. We don't have a telephone number for you guys and your blog looks great. Who would we contact for press, and what address would we use to post you promo CDs?'
Oh that would be the Columbia Records to who Glasvegas are signed and who were the first to hound poor Ed, wouldn't it?
Bitter Andrew resisted the following reply:-
"I live inside your colon, so if you shove the promos up your ass, I'll be sure to receive them."
Nice
Don't stop blogging! You've been getting some good advice - they're right. You can keep going, just not on Blogger.
It will be a very sad day if you are truly gone. I rarely comment but have had you bookmarked for ages.
The people responsible for this are the worst kind of idiots...those who would cut their nose off to spite their face.
I'm in a band, and would be delighted for bloggers like you to post our music, if it meant getting more people to listen to it...
Anyway, I have really enjoyed reading you over the past couple of years, so thanks.
Richard
Really sorry to hear that you are not continuing with your blog and hope that you will reconsider. Although I have never left a comment before your blog was a true inspiration to me,introducing me to bands I had never encountered resulting in me either buying their records or going to see them live. When will these people realise that yourself and other great blogs like J.C.'s are providing a service and giving artists free promotion. Hopefully as many others have said you will start again elsewhere.
Don't do it - just find some legal workaround - there must be someone in internetland who can help you out here!
Yeah, fuck the fucking fuckers. Take time out and listen to the advice of the good folks above. Would be a shame to lose you. I've had a good few DMCA-related post destructions lately, so I moved my blog to an independently-hosted Wordpress setup. I'm a total technical dunce, so if I can do it, anyone can. I'm sure there will be plenty people willing to lend a hand.
Sorry to hear. I dropped by today to view and repost your Year End lists at Beatking.com. Persevere if you can and best wishes from all of us in the music community.
Take time out Ed. It really would be sad to let the fuckers win.
Drew
Don't let the buggers grind you down, I've discovered tunes I'd never heard of from you and had you down as one of my faves on my blog. Do as the others suggest take some time out - it'd be sad to lose you. All the best.
FAO - Huge Grunt - didn't censor your post it seems to keep disappearing!
Thanks to people for cotinued support.
Ed
France is with you ED !!! Whatever you will decide, give us some news. We love you ED !!!
I'm really sad about this. SO sorry to hear you are going. I'd only just discovered you! Sniff!
I don't know whether you got the email I sent to you last week, but if not, here it is again:
Hi Ed,
I just read more about your plight with the DMCA at TVV. I'm truly sorry to hear about all this - I'm running out of words to express the same solid counterargument against all this. There are plenty of other sources for filesharing and illegal music downloads out there that don't have the obvious care and passion for music as their purpose like you have. You are well within the law to be posting single songs, especially since the links expire. Anyhow, I just wanted to let you know that you have my support. I read your blog regularly, and I don't want it to be sacrificed for these privacy-infringing cretins. All of this makes me hope that I never have enough traffic to my blog for the bullies to find me.
You don't need me or anyone else here to tell you the advice from A Tart is right - take a breather (Christmas and the New Year have come at a perfect time then), let the reason you write this in the first place (your obvious love of music) swell and swamp the slings and arrows of outrageous Blogger. Then come back somewhere else. Above all, in the words of Churchill, never, never, never give up. You blog too well to do that. All the best.
Ed, if you move to Wordpress or wherever I swear to god I'll read you every fucking day. Do. Not. Quit.
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