The Future of Recorded Music?

The Flashbulb, aka Benn Jordan, became so outraged when he discovered that iTunes was effectively pirating his music, that he uploaded copies of his latest album to BitTorrent. TorrentFreak caught up with Benn to learn more about the decision to stop distributors and ‘coked-up label reps’ from getting all the cash...

TF: Could you tell us more about the support you’re getting from one of the so-called ‘OiNK replacement’ sites, ‘What.cd’ ?

Benn: It was really a fresh breath of air for
What.cd to promote the idea of artists having involvement with their
own torrents. Not only does it benefit the artist to no end, but I
can’t imagine that any court in the world would be able to pin someone
on copyright infringement for a torrent the copyright holder created.

TF: Aside from uploading your own albums, at times you took an anti-piracy stance at OiNK, why the big change of heart?

Benn: I don’t think my stance has changed all that
much. It’d be a great PR move to say that I’m pro-piracy, but I’d be
lying. I keep seeing these internet news stories saying things like
“The Flashbulb Promotes Piracy”. It is totally out of control. How
could I be promoting piracy if I’m uploading my own material with a
“buy it if you like it” message in the torrent?

What I’m promoting is the artist’s freedom to choose what can and
can’t be done with his/her music, and more importantly, the listener’s
freedom to do what he/she wants with their own computer, MP3 player, or
internet connection.

After a journey through miles and miles of bullshit in this
industry, you learn one thing: If you want something done right, you’ve
got to do it yourself. Whether you’re downloading my music to check it
out, to accompany the CD, or even pirating it…I want you to have a
version/rip of it that I’ve listened to and approved of...

Oink was the biggest music library in the world. People didn’t use
it because they were criminals, people used it because it was literally
better than any service you could pay for. It was the stubborn behavior
of the record labels, artists, and government that wouldn’t allow that
music library to have a cash register at the front door.

The thing RIAA is scared of is that their billion dollar backbone
can no longer shelter people from exploring music themselves. Their
business plan had evolved into telling the world what they will want to
listen to and buy, and now they’ll have to actually compete with
talented artists again. As the people regain control of the market,
music will be judged by it’s content again and will be subjected to
it’s own Darwinism. It is a very interesting time for the music
industry…and since my entire life is devoted to making music, bring it
on. I hope that this situation with my new record proves to other
labels and artists that giving people exactly what they
want is the
smartest way to conduct any business.