Binärpilot (Alexander Støver), a pro-piracy electronic musician from Norway, has released his latest album, Nordland, as both a free download and as a physical CD.
“I make music because I love to, I need to,” says Støver. “I don’t want to make a lot of money, I don’t want to be famous, I just want to keep making music that I like and share it with everyone. Hoping one day to create something unique.”
Funded entirely by fans, Binärpilot’s new album is fighting the “war against poppollution”.
“Piracy is not hurting the artists,” says Støver, “it’s hurting the industry behind the artists.”
“And that is, in my opinion, the beauty of it,” he adds. “Contrary to what they want you to believe, piracy is (if anything) saving music, because it’s bringing a corrupt and exploitative machine down to its knees.”
Preview Nordland below & get it for free at binaerpilot.no. If you like what you hear, the CD is available for $15.
[display_podcast]via Binärpilot via the Submit A Story page.
15$ is too expensive ! Where can I download the artwork so I can burn myself a proper CD ?
I know there is a JPEG file in the folder but I hate lossy compression format and the artwork is not complete ! A Bitmap file would be nice or better in PSD format so I can use it elsewhere !
By the way you shouldn't upload your songs on Jamendo because the encoding is really poor and Bancamp has a download limit of 200 each months for new accounts and 500 for old ones .
Best solution is to upload the WAV files and the artwork elsewhere ! Maybe if someone has already bought the CD he could upload it on a file-sharing website and P2P .as the author kindly encouraged it 🙂
I don't really see the point of Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported , people should be free to remix it !
Thanks again Binärpilot !
Ok. Now the music is really great. But there are lots of artists that do this and don't give a damn about money and all the industry. I make music because I live by music. I spend most of my money I earn in my daytime job on music gear. The only thing I want to do is give them people that listen to my tracks some gorgeous musical time.
You can find my free downloadable album "Timecapsule" here: http://catalogueatstrx.blogspot.com/2009/05/strx0…
And there are many more wonderful artists on this Netlabel for free!
Well, my thumbs are up, but that shouldn't come as a surprise. 😉
Do not conflate the music industry as a whole with "a corrupt and exploitative machine".
Piracy DOES hurt artists. Artists who have actually managed to find labels and industry contacts that are NOT "a corrupt and exploitative machine." (Yes, there are some.)
I will not be supporting Alexander in any way, not even by just listening for free.
good luck with all that
by the way out of curiosity what platform did he used for fan funding , thanks !
Summary of the pro-piracy argument: "Lowe's is a bunch of jerks, so I'm perfectly justified in knocking over this mom & pop hardware store."
Sounds like a philosophy for the already-rich and the hobbyists.
It supports the common notion that an artistic profession doesn't really contribute to the society and therefore doesn't deserve compensation. Well, we do it for ourselves, again and again.
I've seen the architecture profession be nearly destroyed in this manner. The 'art' is regarded as some sort of extraneous luxury extra that is produced for free by designers though more expensive to build. Art is fun and should be free. It's just a hobby. It comes after all the 'important' stuff. People can and should make art as a luxury, as a hobby and without any money changing hands. Of course it should. The great danger in making this some sort of a manifesto is that it gives out a great excuse to treat it as flippant, inessential and requiring of little to no understanding in order to appreciate it at the level where it really offers tremendous, essential value…
I have over 1200 CDs and 400 Tapes, and ahem, I aint bought a CD in over 8 years now, nothing. Music is now free and disposable, people have to start to understand the old model is over years ago and it will be very hard to make a buck with music unless you have a good live act. I have no problem with paying $15 a month subscription to Napster or Spotifty for access to 10 million tracks streamed legit. "Ownership" does not matter to me, only availability. Or I can tune into one of 1000s of stations tuned to my particular mood like somafm.com and Majoreursa.com. Why "buy" a CD ?
The old model of buying a CD does not work anymore, you buy availability instead, usually from a legit streaming service. Put your "free" music to the test on one of these schemes, nothing wrong with making a buck. Problem is that you cant even get your free stuff on these services because of publisher controls and the old model.
hmmm… I don't support the activites of the greedy
commercial music industry…nor do I support piracy
in any way shape or form.
I just find it a little disturbing when someone can spend
a lttle over a dollar per CD to manufacture, and then sell
it to the public for $15.00. and then claim that you
support Piracy at the same time and then act like you do
it just for the sake of making music while selling your
CD's at 1000% markup/
I still buy music and I ever will. I prefer CDs, I don't really like this mp3 crap, to be listened to cheap plastic earplugs or cheap computer speakers. I like my CD collection and my hi-fi system. I don't only listen to electronic music, I also love to listen to piano music. And I play piano.
I'm hopelessly outdated.
S42010 – Not sure why you want to rag on him, when he's giving away his music for free
If you ever get to the point where you release a CD yourself, you'll know that most musicians don't make money on CDs, even at $15.
This seems pretty similar to what Nine Inch Nails and some other bands are doing. Give the music away and offer a nicely packaged physical version, at a fair price, for the people that prefer CDs.
Interesting point – but it's just as dangerous to think that art has to be paid for to be worthwhile.
The music industry really enforces lowest-common-denominator music. Not necessarily bad music, but music that the largest number of people can appreciate and understand. Just about all the music you have heard in your life is a product of this lowest-common-denominator thinking, and that dumbs down your ears and your expectations for music.
Maybe music is important enough that it should be set free, instead of measured by its ability to appeal to the masses.
" If you ever get to the point where you release a cd YOURSELF " ???
Why would you assume that I haven't ? I mean, what about me would lead you to believe that I have never released a CD ? Well, I have. two years ago to be exact. I understand first hand
what is involved in releasing a CD.
I wasn't " ragging " on the guy, I just think it was disturbing that the guy would charge $15.00
for an item that basicall cost hm $2.00 ( AT MOST ) and then support piracy ? I personally would have no beeef with him if he was charging $20.00 for his CD. but you don't bash the
evil, greedy, oppressive commercial music industry, support piracy ( THEFT )
and then put a 1000% markup on your own product.
he should have just made it 100% pure digital download and I would have not said a thing about it…but then again, I try so hard not to be a hypocrite because it bothers me to no end when others are hypocrites.
Now, I'm not going to get into a unneccessary debate any further, I stated my opinion,
and you stated yours. PIRACY is THEFT and THEFT is WRONG..no matter how much anybody sugar coats it..I am sure the artist would have a real problem if Iw as to take his music,
invest $1.50 per disc ( That's how much it cost me for my album ) and then sell HIS material for
$6.00..let's just see how much he supports piracy then.
Anybody else notice the CD artwork? That's some serious shit.
To the haters – quick complaining about $15 for a CD and download it for free already!
Thanks for the write-up! A lot of interesting comments here as well.
Just for the record, I'd like to clear up any misconceptions regarding the album price. For the sake of transparency, here's the expense per unit for the print:
$4.45 production (100 copies equals expensive print, shipping and tax incl.)
$4.00 distributor (in this case CDBaby)
$2.97 shipping (best case scenario)
= $11.42
That leaves me with a profit pr CD of $3.58. Well, if I sell every single copy.
I'm not complaining, this is a service by request. But considering the time that went into making this happen, monetary-wise, it's not worth the effort. But for several other reasons, it most certainly is!
I support piracy, it's not a claim. That doesn't necessarily mean I have anything against paying for music. It's just that I think the war on piracy under the guise that it is killing music is a lie, so I'm on the opposite side of that debate. Add to the fact that I believe that music (art) is too important of a contribution to society for it to be dumbed down, generalized and spoon-fed the masses by people with but one concern: To make a profit. Rash and immature? Sure, but hey, I'm both those things.
Regardless, the music itself should matter more to you than some random idiot's opinion, even if he did make it. So please ignore me and listen to the album instead!
" Some random idiot " ??? now now…not a very mature comment…
why was my comment deleted ?
ahhhh…I know why…synthtopia, don't even bother to answer my question…I already know tha answer…" It's beacuse I had a differing opnion to the masses "
Jumped on late but I like this move, and I also welcome it.
Piracy isn't killing sales; the piracy protection usually is. I buy a CD and I can't play it on my computer because well; I might rip it. I put it in my car stereo and it sounds like shite because well; my stereo "isn't compatible". I buy a DVD and I end up waiting for at least 5 minutes before I can actually see the movie (not with all dvd's, but you get the idea).
In Holland several companies stopped applying copy protection on their cd's / dvd's. Guess what? Sales increased. And the "experts" were left baffled…
one of my comments got deleted too.. and it was incredibly normal comment
might be something wrong with site, on the tech side
good luck with that
wicked. i love binarpilot. it's a buy from me.
I can't tell if you are serious. :/
What? You like iPod music apps?
Your comment got nuked by the Intense Debate spam filter. For some reason, the default spam filter puts considers "???" up there with xanax and viagra.
I un-nuked it.
S42010 – you had a differeing opinion…..
What? You like the iPod music app coverage?
I checked and your comment got nuked by the Intense Debate spam filter. For some reason, the default spam filter considers "???" up there with xanax and viagra.
I un-nuked it.
S42010 – you had a differing opinion….. WTF? You actually like our iPod music app coverage?
FYI – I checked and your comment got nuked by the Intense Debate spam filter. For some reason, the default spam filter considers "???" up there with xanax and viagra.
I un-nuked it.
S42010 – you had a differing opinion….. WTF? You actually like our iPod music app coverage?
FYI – I checked and your comment got nuked by the Intense Debate spam filter. For some reason, the default spam filter considers "???" up there with xanax and viagra.
I un-nuked it and removed "???" from the filter.
Thanks for making your concerns known.
S42010 – you had a differing opinion….. What??? You actually like our iPod music app coverage?
FYI – I checked and your comment got nuked by the Intense Debate spam filter. For some reason, the default spam filter considers "???" up there with xanax and viagra.
I un-nuked it and removed "???" from the filter.
Thanks for making your concerns known.
It's possible that the Intense Debate system that is used at Synthtopia automatically filters out comments that are incredibly normal or even mundane. This could be something wrong with the site on the tech side.
Or it could be that your comment was something like "ru insane??? take a xanax or something, because you're gambling with your free cash at an offshore casino if you buy a Behringer!!!!"
Unfortunately, there is insufficient information available for us to be certain one way or another. You have our apologies.
We will do everything in our power to be sure that your future commenting experiences are good ones.
DX Kackhorn 14
It's possible that the Intense Debate system that is used at Synthtopia automatically filters out comments that are incredibly normal or even mundane. This could be something wrong with the site on the tech side.
Or it could be that your comment was something like "ru insane??? take a xanax or something, because you're gambling with your free cash at an offshore casino if you buy a Behringer!!!!"
Unfortunately, there is insufficient information available for us to be certain one way or another. You have our apologies.
We will do everything in our power to be sure that your future commenting experiences are good ones.
DX Kackhorn 14
It's possible that the Intense Debate system that is used at Synthtopia automatically filters out comments that are incredibly normal or even mundane. This could be something wrong with the site on the tech side.
Or it could be that your comment was something like "ru insane??? take a xanax or something, because you're gambling with your free cash at an offshore casino if you buy a Behringer!!!!"
Unfortunately, there is insufficient information available for us to be certain one way or another. You have our apologies.
We will try to make sure that your future commenting experiences are good ones.
DX Kackhorn 14
It's possible that the Intense Debate system that is used at Synthtopia automatically filters out comments that are incredibly normal or even mundane. This could be something wrong with the site on the tech side.
Or it could be that your comment was something like "ru insane??? take a xanax or something, because you're gambling with your free cash at an offshore casino if you buy a Behringer!!!!"
Unfortunately, there is insufficient information available for us to be certain one way or another. You have our apologies.
We will try to make sure that your future commenting experiences here are good ones.
Can I buy it for a dollar!??
Best comment yet!
If you read closely you'll see I am referring to myself…
There are some random idiots who never read anything properly before replying.
I've had this problem before too, and I always take care to write only in the Queen's English. Mind you, what is the point of a spam filter if it allows the dirty word "Behringer" through???
Ah, it's all good, you have my word that it wasn't anything
offensive to anyone….hence my suprise that it was deleted.
" what is the point of a spam filter if it allows the dirty word "Behringer" through??? "
*Chuckle* Good point…seems that shows proof that the spam filter is flawed.
Why doesn't this place have moderators like most message boards ?
Oh yeah, I remember what I commented on, Alexander mentioned shipping, but I
have an album that CD Baby distributes and I don't pay the shipping, CD Baby chares the buyer.
Because the site is popular enough to get thousands of spams attempts per month. Some automation is necessary.
The Intense Debate system does a good job most of the time, but we still have to watch the OK'd comments for sneaky spammer and occasionally a legitimate comment gets caught because it contains a word that mostly spammers use.
Will have to consider MirlitronOne's suggestion, though….
You man are a gentleman and a scholar ! But you shouldn't make pay at all, because you can only sell something that you own, but no one own the music and anyway "Property is theft" like Pierre-Joseph Proudhon wrote in " What is Property? Or, an Inquiry into the Principle of Right and of Government.".
You are on the right path though but it would be nice to upload the whole album in *WAV on P2P or on a file-sharing website. Of course that would be nice to have the full artwork 😉
I don't see why on earth people should pay taxes and even a distributor, distributors are evil like the labels . I thought you wanted to bring the industry to its knees, but you are working for them ! I am disappointed !
As I am sure you will comprehend my arguments and as we all want this industry to die : update the post with the files requested, in that way that your files will have more values and people will share more ! You should only distribute your CD in gigs and selling some T-shirts and some pancakes ! Be careful only home-made T-shirts because there is too much opression behind this industry !
Thanks brother !
Look Banksy intro you will understand what I am saying !
[youtube DX1iplQQJTo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DX1iplQQJTo youtube]
Assuming that you would still pay for other types of labor and services, can anyone explain, why exactly music/art should be free?
I don't believe it should be…alot of work, time, effort and imagination goes into
composing, programming, sound design etc…Iand I think an artist should be able to charge
whatever price the artist feels people would be willing to pay for it,, but I also feel that if an artist wants to give it away, that's his business as well.
I sell my music only for the chance to continue to create music and release it
in pysical form…new gear, new software..etc..
and I certainly would never call anyone that had a differing opinion to
mine..what was the term used towards me by an artist here trying to sell his
work here ?
oh yeah "Some random idiot"
I won't either…especially after he referred to me as some random idiot
because I don't project the same views he does.
S42010 You Sir are an unbeliever ! Alexander Støver on the contrary is on the path to enlightenment brother ! He doesn't need the money but you won't accept it 🙂
I hope he will soon realise that everything he owns he shouldn't keep it for him and give it away !
People are so selfish they think they can own a person in the marriage but we should share everything !
I hope Enslaved will pay him a visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRY3baFA-S4
I am exhausted must improve my trolling skill ^^
Sugar – it should be up to the artist to decide how they distribute their work, of course.
But – remember that there are a lot of things that you probably used to pay for that you don't pay for anymore, because of the Internet.
Most people get their news for free over the Internet now. Many people are watching videos online at sites like Hulu and YouTube instead of paying for cable TV. People used to pay for classified ads, now they're generally free at sites like Craigslist.
We may wish that the situation were different for music, but why exactly should it be?
S42010
Actually – you were the one who called yourself the random idiot. Not sure why you made that connection. See the comment thread above.
The question raised by Binärpilot's stance, though, seems to be whether or not commerce corrupts music – leading to "poppolution".
yeah lets just use the same argument for Ferrari's shall we? yeah no problem just steal one and tell the owner to get over it. Aboslute rubbish. You are a theif thats it and all about it. Don't try and dress it up as anything else, if you are happy with that fine.
People spend time and money producing music, if they want that to their career then they should get paid…. just like any other job. Do you work for free ?
how very noble. What about making enough to live on… Still love to, still need to. I will go round and "share" his TV, just pop it in the back of the van and wave him a cheary good bye….
Wait thief ? wtf i'm reporting you, I OWN ALL THEM 1200 CDS and TAPES I PAID FOR THEM, I suddenly stopped buying music when I could listen to online streams and have access to pay subscriptions like Napster and Emusic.
My PC is connected to the hifi system digitally now, it makes a difference.
I'm just happy to be on spotify now, I crossed over from Napster, $10 a month all you can stream, I dont care for CDs at all now, neither do younger people, I got wall full of CDs and tapes I purchased over the years, its a burden, i'm glad for digital music available to stream on demand.
Except the general term for piracy these days is just taking something without paying for it. Reselling or using for financial gain is another kettle of fish, and I don't think you would get any complaints from anyone on that side of the argument.
Why is remixing for losers? or are you talking about his stance on piracy?