Been doing a lot of thinking over the past few days, and I've decided to begin replacing all the dead links. I've started at the most recent entry and I'll be working backwards across 800+ posts towards the Snowfield era. In another example of my understanding of irony, I'll be using a brand new YouTube account for the streaming links and before you start groaning and slapping your forehead yes, I know. However, the positives outweigh the negatives as long as I'm very, very careful about what I share. The main attraction to going back is that I know more people will get to see and hear the band than when I was on Vimeo. It's just a fact. Everyone uses YouTube.
Another option was using torrents. It's a great system and it truly is something that puts fans directly in contact with each other, but it has downsides. With the BBC, Skynet and UMG being the way they are, I have no doubt that they would come after me if I was sharing anything they deemed a breach of copyright in torrent form. Worse than that, I can't say for sure that they wouldn't also focus their attention on those who downloaded from me. With YouTube and Vimeo, they just filed a complaint, had the profile shut down and moved on to the next thing. With torrenting, there's often a trail that could lead right to your front door if they had the resources and the bloody-mindedness, and I believe they possess that quality by the bucket-load. Having attempted to deal with them in a rational manner and argue a case only to have it completely ignored or trampled upon with legal speak, I don't feel like they're in the mood for a chat about it. They are right and you are wrong seems to be the mindset here. So torrents are off the table purely in the interest of keeping all of you safe.
Going forward, and in a change to the way I did things in the past, I'll be making absolutely everything downloadable. That means that in instances where you can't actually watch the "problem files" that have caused all the trouble in the past online, you'll be able to grab a copy for yourself. My dream was to have everything available to stream but with the copyright minefield, it just isn't practical. It took me 7 years to work this out. A quick learner, I am not.
Having links on Mediafire or Mega should reduce my presence on Universal Music Group's radar, and avoid them getting mad at me for illegally thinking about one of their songs while I was on a bus or something. You may laugh, but I bet UMG is already looking into thought-reading technology so it can catch those evil pirates with their foul daydreams that lead to the defrauding of artists. Somehow. Mark my words...
It's going to take a long, long time to rebuild. There has been a lot of activity between the death of the original YouTube account and the new one and now it all needs attention. The alternative is that the entire resource goes away, and given the volume of material I have to share, it would be a real shame. So here we go again. I'm ready to roll up my sleeves and get busy, thanks a lot for your continuing patience. As I've said before, promoting the band and sharing with their fans are my only motivators for doing this.
Here's a link for your bookmarks for as long as it lasts, and remember that even though at times it may look like nothing is happening around here, there's lots of work being done. Thank you.
brought to you with lots and lots of lemming-love :) x
