Late last week I received an “Advance DMCA Request” from the good ol Web Sheriff. You know the web sheriff is “protecting your rights on the internet.” This isn’t the first I have received. A while back I got one for the Yo Lo Tengo album coming out. The best part about that one, THERE WAS A SPELLLING ERROR. I thought to myself, why should I follow a “legal request” when it has a spelling error? I havn’t and probably won’t post any yo lo tengo, sorry. Don’t get me wrong about why I won’t post; I won’t post because I received the request in the first place. I don’t want some kind of warning threat with the band and label posted all over it. In fact it makes me not want to support either of them at all.
On with this new advance DMCA request, I figure I’ll share it with you.
Web Sheriff
Protecting Your Rights on the Internet
websheriff@websheriff.comCopyright & Trademark
ADVANCE DMCA REQUEST
www.musicglob.comTHE SHINS - Wincing The Night Away
Hi,
This is simply to let you know that WEB SHERIFF represents SUBPOP RECORDS INC. and that this label will be releasing THE SHINS’ new album “WINCING THE NIGHT AWAY” on a worldwide basis.
Obviously, it would be greatly appreciated by both the artist and the label if you could refrain from hosting or linking to pirate files of “WINCING THE NIGHT AWAY” or any tracks from the album.
The label and artist have asked for WEB SHERIFF to help protect this release from piracy by way of 24-7 surveillance and enforcement and, as such, civil and / or criminal legal actions could, regrettably, result if these files are offered for download or streaming without the permission of the label.
Many thanks in advance for respecting this artist’s creation / copyrights
Naturally and notwithstanding the above, all rights of SUBPOP RECORDS INC., the RIAA, the BPI and the IFPI remain strictly reserved : please excuse this required formality.
With thanks & regards,
WEB SHERIFF
(Enforcement Team)
You know what REALLY annoys me about this email?? It came to my old MusicGlob email address and from PPWEB3@aol.com with no senders name. WTF? This email comes down to one thing, they are accusing me of being a pirate and a thief. Neither of which am I, except maybe on halloween and when I take money from friends that I might pay back. I purchase music, I go to alot of shows, I write about bands. How much more support do you want?
So what next? A scar on SubPops’ and The Shins name in my mind, and probably everybody that I may talk to when The Shins come up. It sucks I know, I’m sure they just want to protect their music or something but what about years ago when The Shins didn’t get big from Garden State. As for SubPop, I still love your bands.
Tell me your thoughts…
**UPDATE** 10/26/2006
The Web Sheriff responds, check out the comments.
October 24th, 2006 at 2:10 pm
Screw the Web Sheriff… definitely a slap in the face to fans who support bands and their music.
October 26th, 2006 at 11:30 am
Fuck the Shins. They need to step off their high horse and realize that just because, oh my god, someone gets one song, doesn’t mean that person won’t invest for the rest of their CD, concert tickets, merchandise, and whatever other crap they can pull out of their ass.
I turly just lost all respect for them.
October 26th, 2006 at 2:48 pm
We’re truly sorry when dedicated fans get caught-up in all of this, but the ‘problem’ is that this album ain’t due out until late Jan 2007 … … if it were simply a case of hardcore fans being able to share advance copies of this album, then there wouldn’t be a problem at all (and, in fact, there would be great promotional value in this) but, the internet being what it is, in the almost 4 months to release the band and label would end-up losing a HUGE amount of sales through p2p and Russian pirate sites etc etc, so they have no choice buy to try and contain the leak. That being said, SubPop and The Shins shall be ‘releasing’ selected tracks for free off their web-sites in the run-up to release, so please simpy keep an eye on these annoncements.
Regards, Web Sheriff
October 26th, 2006 at 2:57 pm
Thanks Web Sheriff for the response - any reason why the email didn’t come from you? Feel free to email me directly if you come back to this post. DAN [at] MusicGlob.com
October 26th, 2006 at 3:36 pm
Weird indeed.
October 27th, 2006 at 6:53 am
Hi Dan,
Thanks for your post … … did you spot our typo (deliberate this time ?!) … … for security reasons, we use a variety of interface ISPs, although recent improvements in our servers / firewalls etc mean that these measures will soon be redundant. Also, should any of your ‘readers’ wish to ask us some questions, please feel free (printable ones anyway !!).
Best, WS
November 9th, 2006 at 9:17 am
“you would appear to have enabled your ‘member’ with the so-called ‘IP Address’ specified in the SUMMARY NOTIFICATION above to infringe our said client’s rights”
I believe you will find we have enabled our ‘member’ with an IP address so they can access the Internet.
How is this different from someone suing a car manufacturer for someone deciding to use their car to run someone over.
I think you’re DMCA notice is utter non-sense and will not stand up in court, especially your demands for adverts to be taken out in a number of magazines.
November 9th, 2006 at 11:48 am
UK ISP: I believe you are replying to the Web Sheriff? If it is to me - I’ve never tried to advertise in a magazine, or pretty much anywhere at all. Care to elaborate? Thanks