MySpace
myspace music my music  featured playlists  top artists  music videos  karaoke  shows  forums 


blogs.myspace.com/subterraneanswasere
MySpace.com | rss | sign in
Subterraneans



Last Updated: 11/27/2009

Send Message
Instant Message
Email to a Friend
Subscribe

Status: Single
City: Camden Town, London
Country: UK
Tuesday, October 27, 2009 
PRESS STATEMENT - TUESDAY 27th OCTOBER 2009

London rock band Subterraneans are calling on artists, labels and music fans to boycott HMV’s digital download services, after HMV got the track running order of the band’s Soul Mass Transit album wrong.

This is not a question of sour grapes, or indeed a trivial matter.

“This is one more example of just how devalued artists are today,” said vocalist and songwriter Jude Rawlins, “The irony is that the illegal download sites would never ever have made such an inexcusable mistake. It is not okay for stores to change the running order of albums, any more than it’s okay for the BBC to jumble up the scenes of a movie, or for an art gallery to hang a painting upside down. Other download stores can get it right, why not HMV?”

He continued, “Artists feel powerless and abused by stuff like this. There’s a whole world of work and effort that goes into creating the music. The digital sites pay next to nothing for their content, the least they can do is have some respect for it. It’s not enough that they correct it after the fact. They have committed vandalism, and they should be penalised for it.”

Subterraneans have instructed their record company, Cadiz, to remove all of their catalogue from HMV as soon as possible.

This is the second time in a week that Subterraneans have issued a complaint against HMV. A few days ago the band discovered that DRM licences for tracks downloaded from HMV up until DRM was removed earlier this year would not be renewed, meaning that anyone who had purchased a track from HMV in WMA format before April 2009 would have to purchase the track again, as their current WMA files would cease working. On this the band had the following to say:

"Is it any wonder that people are turning to file sharing and illegal download sites, when it turns out that the legitimate purchase of digital music does not guarantee their consumer rights? If you buy music, in any format, what you're actually buying is the right to listen to it as you see fit. Musicans and artists are trying their hardest to rise to the challenges that we all face due to the digital revolution, and HMV and iTunes are just making it worse and worse with their ridiculous format wars. The digital format is DRM-free 320kbps MP3. If its anything else, don't buy it."
7:35 AM
 
Print
Previous Post: "Lights" - New Track | Back to Blog List