Sound Tribe Sector 9 keyboard player David “Lars Ulrich” Phipps has started using his laptop for things other than music. Phipps recently used his band’s message board, The Lowdown (snicker), to rant against the torrent site Oink.
Your best bet’s to take a moment and read Phipps’ complete open letter from The Lowdown site, but here’s the pertinent information of his rant:
So, until I get back to Amsterdam to seek this guy out and kick him in the nuts myslef, I can only turn to YOU, my FAMILY, to help put a stop to this. Please understand, you’re not stealing from a corporation. There is only the five of us. We make a living doing this, and only this. When you steal my music, YOU ARE STEALING FOOD FROM MY DAUGHTER’S PLATE. It really is that simple. When the new album hits next year, PLEASE, do me a favor, do the right thing. And encourage others to do so too. Torrenting: Its quick, its easy, its free…and its STEALING from your friend. Unlike the points on this message board, karma is real, and consider sts9 via oink to be triple-hexed.
Yes, folks, Phipps actually used the sentence “YOU ARE STEALING FOOD FROM MY DAUGHTER’S PLATE.” In caps! Let’s not forget, The Lowdown is a community of Sound Tribe Sector 9’s most die-hard fans. While I certainly understand the point Phipps is making, and his argument has some merit, perhaps it’s not best to bite the hand that feeds you, or in this case, the hand that feeds your daughter. Even the general news media has taken up the case of feeding Phipps’ child:
THE INTERWEB, Amsterdam (CNN) — Illegal downloads took 10 elbow pastas off the plate of a young girl, jamtronica band “STS9” said Wednesday.
Four pop-tarts were stolen directly from the mouth of bandmember ‘Phipps’ daughter in an afternoon download somewhere outside of Omaha on Tuesday about 6:50 a.m.
Less than three hours later, another bandmember’s son had his Reese’s Peeses Cups removed directly from his brown bagged lunch.
A large cantaloupe was stolen from Phipps at about 1:10 p.m. when music was illegally downloaded, also just outside of Omaha.
In Mechanicsville VA, northeast of Richmond VA, three dready teens with hemp-crystal necklaces were killed as the “result of nuts kicking” during Phipps’ retaliation, officials said.
As of Wednesday, 67 vegetables and almost a dozen breakfast foods have been stolen from STS9 in October, and the total for the year so far stands at 602 items of food stolen directly from plates. Since the start of Oink, STS9 has lost 2,775 pounds of food. Several Armani sports jackets have been lost in the campaign as well.
We’re all for artists getting paid, but we’re also for bands succeeding on the road so they don’t need to deal with this bullshit. Jon Fishman had a good take on it in 2002: “Ultimately in the end what the Internet means for musicians is that people can survive who can actually play their instruments and write good songs and don’t need tons and tons of bullshit behind it.” Well said, wook.
There are good ways to make a point and bad ways. Bringing the feeding habits of your daughter into the situation reeks of Latrell Sprewell, and we hope Phipps and the rest of STS9 treats their fanbase with a little less resentment in the future.
(Many thanks to our friend Neeko for that hilarious parody above)
25 Responses
if you’re a “Jam” band that is worrying about album sales to feed your family…your band probably sucks. Live shows = the cash cow of the jam band. Getting music into the hands of potential concert goers should be more important then the 15-20 bucks a record sale gets IMO.
Musicians are going to have to get used to the fact that the Internet has returned the music biz to the early 19i00s. Recorded music will not mean anything economically (to most of them), whereas touring and a loyal fan base will. Check out how Marillion has been able to survive
BTW, Lars Ulrich may be the biggest baby on the planet. Also the biggest dick. Amazing to think that one mediocre drummer with a speech impediment is able to combine both traits into one personality.
Fans of this genre are supposed to malnourish dogs, not artists’ children. Shame on all of you. Where the fuck is CBS’ Arnold Diaz, that awesome moustache and the great “Shame on You” theme song when you really need ’em?
Fight Back! with David Horowitz should also get on the case.
Can’t say I disagree with the man. The fans of the music are simply stealing from the band. Any rationalization is just that. Downloading music from Oink is stealing.
Worrying about feeding your daughter is a legit concern. Mentioning it to your diehard fanbase is a reasonable action.
T to the J, I think Kristian has the right point. If you’re a jamband you are not going to feed your kids with Album sales anyway, and the truth is, they are not going to get royalties becuase they owe reocrd companies for recording costs that will not be paid back by their low record slaes anyway, but because they are a band they owe nothing personally to the record labels either.
They gain nor lose money unless thery can sell a shitload of albums and the select few people who know how to bit torrent (and the percentage is still low and those on OINK aren’t necessarily jamband fans either) are not oging to contribute to the downfall of a band.
Perhaps STS9 should focus less on lighting and noodling and more on writing catchy songs tat might be radio playable if they are concerned with making a living in themusic industry. Otherwise, they should just be happy that they have enough fans across the coutnry to allow them to perform and travel wherever the hell they want.
Obviously this issue has been hashed out pretty extensively and doesnt seem to want to die. (you should see the 10 page thread on PT bashing Phipps).
I had some reactions to some comments I saw on here (and PT)
– Sense of entitlement- This is bullshit. So many people seem to have this attitude that they are entitled to free illegal music. No, you are not. I know people who have been sued by the RIAA- I hope those of you who think it is your right to download the music of others for free get sued too and have to cut a several thousand dollar check to RIAA (which will got -indirectly- to Britany Spears and Metallica and the like I might add). Filesharing is probably the most widely committed crime among young people these days but that does not make it right and does not mean it is without consequences. Leon is all worried that bc Phipps is sending cease and desist letters (which he said were not working Leon so you can relax- the company is in the Netherlands and there is no legal authority on which Phipps or anyone can get them shut down) and his Oink- his very lifeline apparently- will be shut down and he’ll actually have to listen to what he already has, listen to AUD copies, or pirate music the old fashioned way: person-to-person. Ghasp! So many people bitch that “music should just be free now.” Fuck that. No studio music would ever be made that way. This band does have free music available. Download it from the archive or etree.
-The “the band needs this” argument- This argument ignores reality. Bands need people to hear and be exposed to their music so they can build a fan base, sell tickets, sell CDs etc. But to claim that the band needs people to download their released stuff (studio and sbds) so that people can check out their music?! Thats bullshit. You can download tons of AMAZING sounding shows off the Archive and even more through bittorrent sites like Etree. Many of these shows sound amazing (literally amazing). Check out 10/3 and 10/24 from 2003 (HCF) – incredible AUDs. You can go to their myspace and hear 4 tracks at any time. You can listen to STS9Radio which has a ton of tracks. God where would STS9 be if people couldnt download free soundboards and copies of Artifact?!?! They’d be fine. There are bands that make it extremely difficult to even hear a few full songs legally without buying an album. This band (and the other bands in this “scene”)- that allows audience taping and has some online tracks is not one of them.
-“quite bitching Phipps”- So many people (here and PT) have said something to the effect like: “you are actually making it as a touring musician, which so many people would kill to do. Shut up and be grateful that you can do that. And Im sure with all the tickets you sell and charging so much for tickets and all that that you do fine. You have the nerve to post about having a problem with this?”
Seriously?!?! First of all, Phipps posted this on HIS message board, which he created, basically expressing his frustration about all this. He didnt really make some sort of public statement like by posting to the main page of STS9.com, sending out a mass email, getting on TV (a la Lars from Metallica)- he posted to the Lowdown to this community saying that this pisses him off (not only the sharing but the “fuck you” attitude taken by those at Oink) and that he wouldnt allow any support of Oink HERE. This is his space- the band’s place where they can communicate with their fans. Its fair to tell someone to keep that shit out of their proverbial “house.” Secondly, the band is not rich (I dont think so at least) and this does hurt them. They pay overhead to run sts9music.com and to have someone do the recordings, get them upped, handle billing etc. They need to get a return on their investment.
-to those of you who would bitch me out for this- Fuck you- I dont know if Ill get negative reactions for this on here (I would on PT that is for sure), but I just want to preempt any of that. Im not trying to take a holier than thou attitude and proclaim my self-rightiousness. My comments are to express my feelings about the way some people reacted to Phipps’ post. Im just saying its bullshit to hear the conceit coming out of people who feel entitled to fuck with someone’s property rights with impunity. You are not entitled to it, the band does not owe YOU anything for downloading their released material, phipps is not an asshole by posting this etc.
If you download shit from Oink, or wherever you get your illegal music, then fine, do that. Just realize its illegal, you have no entitlement to it, and you really can get sued for it. Phipps says dont come on here with Oink invites etc- can you handle that?! Thats the minimum he was asking for.
Smart people dont talk about it when they are breaking the law. Fucking attitudes.
I believe there to be a difference between Spears, Metallica, and sts9 as far as those examples you used. I agree with you that stealing is stealing. It appeared to me back in 2002 when I started seeing the sts9 shows that they allowed other recording to freely flow and be available. Theirs are sbd recordings and the others were not. If someone wanted it they’d buy it bc it was the best quality. They also have recorders the ability to use their Giddings to do what they do best just the same as the band with their music. It also comes to.mind that when bands are small alot of times they care not about the money as much as to getting their names out. When they do het their names out things change and then money becomes an issue. We here in America start out giving freely only to become selfish and money centered. Our standard of living could be and should be alot lower than it is. Our sense of entitlement is sick and needs changed. I love their music and appreciate their gifting but those quotes were rather dramatic. I thought their movements toward giving and community would maintain but maybe I misunderstood the original ideologies I believed them to be after…… just some thoughts to consider. The love of money is the root of all evil. Live with less, sacrifice more, enjoy real life of giving what you’ve been given and experience true life and see what happens.
anon, who cares if you get flamed, you posted anonymously so its not like anyone can do anything but react to your comments.
I still stand by the fact that OINK does not even have that many STS listings and I’m sure 99.9% of people on that site are NOT DLing STS9. Maybe its a little egotistical to think that his band is really losing that much money from OINK or he actually admitted how little record sales they have. either way OINK is not killing them but your point is well taken.
I know that this is a serious issue and there are valid arguments on both sides. But it warrants mentioning that a Mayan-calendar-abiding, crystals-promoting, Santa Cruz-based band posting a message such as this is, by my calculations, another sign of The Brahphacy.
i was deeply offended by phipps’ arrogance and grandiosity. He even said that he doesnt care if people download other artist Just HIM and HIS music. This should secure his nomination for douche of the year. If everything goes well, i think he has a chance at douche of the universe.
Marginally talented bands like them would be in a ditch without the internet AND FILESHARING.
Maybe it’s illegal or whatever — but what if it’s a bullshit law designed to place control over something that cannot be controlled at all anymore…
Revolution, I say! Download as much STS9 from Oink as you can.
And I love this band, too. It pains me to type that…
http://mrtwig.net/ep/709.html
KYLE He beat us. Because all this time we’ve been so caught up with how to protect our music that we forgot to just play.
LARS But why play if we’re not gonna make millions of dollars.
KYLE Because that’s what real artists do. People are always gonna find a way to copy our music and swap it for free. If we’re real musicians, then we should just play and be stoked that so many people are listening.
STAN Beside, maybe our sound would have gotten downloaded for free, but if they were good songs then people still would have bought tickets to see our band in concert.
KYLE From now on, MOOP isn’t about money. MOOP is about music! We’re not striking anymore! Who’s with us?!
Id just like to point out that Scotty B illegally downloaded my news parody and I will not be able to feed my cats this week. YOURE STEALING NUM-NUMS FROM KITTY’S DISH!
btw, his little rant was in response to people dl’ing the live soundboard sources they charge 11$ for after each show not so much the albums.
…and its actually quite a bit of money, usually 40-50 people purchase the show at 11 a piece and that is pretty standard for everyone of their shows. Thats not counting the big shows (red rocks, nye, etc).
All that being said… he def blew this way out of proportion. Now the disco biscuits have a right to be pissed… they have 4 to 5 times as many people downloading their live releases, and im sure $t$9 banks far more than tDB.
Spaga is pissed.
>So many people bitch that “music should just be free now.” Fuck that. No studio music would ever be made that way.
That’s ridiculous. People will ALWAYS continue to make studio recordings- the studio may only be a laptop with Live & a shit ton of VST’s, but it will happen.
That said- I agree with most of the rest of you post, anon. The amount of rationalizing that goes hand in hand with places like Oink is crazy- yes, you are stealing. It is no different than walking into a record store, picking up a copy of the CD & walking out, except at leas tdoing that you’re more screwing the label than the artist. I download the occasional item from Oink. Most of it never gets listened to again. If it’s something I love, I’ll buy it.
aw, give him a break. 10 pages of thoughtful discussion later, everybody group hugged and moved on. this parody, while good for a laugh, is a little out of context. I wouldn’t take the quotes above too seriously without reading the other pages of forum discussion. hate for a guy to stick up for himself, geez.
1) I have never met anyone who just thought that artists should just give away all of the music they make for free. Not a single person. Until someone can show any example of it, can we leave that strawman behind?
2) It is a fact is that filesharing isn’t going to go away ever. No matter how many whiney posts you make on your message board, you aren’t going to stop p2p music sharing. If you manage to crush one source another, more efficient source will rise from its ashes. This is the world we live in. You can either learn to use it to your advantage (like the Barenaked Ladies or DJ Dangermouse) or get used to the feeling impotence and frustration.
3) Successful artists should stop portraying themselves as victims of p2p. There are plenty of actual starving artists in the world. No one is going to feel bad for you when your job is to drive around the country doing what you love after-which you have women throwing themselves at you. Phipps daughter has most likely never missed a meal because of oink just like Lars never went broke because of Napster.
I want my free sts9 oink was awesome. STS9 makes all their bills on the road selling out shows. Lower the rate of your mp3’s or make it on a donation basis with a min. set then you’ll have more people willing to spend #3 on a live show rather than $10. Someone direct me to where i can find some more sts9 sbds now that oink is gone 🙁
most of you people are dumb….sts9 makes some amazing music. who cares about all this BS. Just rock it. If you have money buy it if you dont then go on the live music archive….Its free??? And way better then the studio stuff ne ways.
[email protected]
STS9 sucks anyway!! Who cares!?!?! This is all hilarious to me. I could go on and on, but these guys and their “heady” scene are just too easy of a target