No More New Releases Please..
It's a tough call that some people will not like but it simply needs to be taken care of.
Please do not post any releases here that are not at least one year old. That means definitely no 2008-2009 releases. If people so desperately want to hear the latest Britney they should go to iTunes, amazon, emusic or whatever other official download site they prefer and buy it. Pulling the carpet from under the feet of record labels and artists and interfering with brand new releases is simply not fair. It will undermine the industry to the point where there's gonna be a "Day Of The Great Silence" any time soon ... because there simply won't be any new releases anymore. Labels and artists should at least have a fair chance at recovering their initial investments. Those of you who have some inside knowledge know how high those costs can be.
We also do not want to attract the attention of record companies and anti-piracy agencies by posting all kinds of new and even "advanced" releases. Furthermore, it is incompatible with us now officially promoting new releases... only to have them on here for downloading a week later. Sorry, that simply doesn't make any sense. This is our own decision and was not forced upon us - nor even suggested - by any external party, like promotion agencies etc.
It is awkward and very unpleasant being forced into this role of "Internet Police" but some people are just pushing the limits a wee bit too far. I even noticed some people are demanding payment to access downloads. I'm sorry but that doesn't have anything to do with "sharing" anymore. It is pure and blatant piracy. Sites/Blogs that want to do so, will simply not be listed here anymore at all. We'll give you a week to rethink what you're doing. After that we won't list you at all anymore, not even the "free" listings.
If by any chance one of our contributors unintentionally should post any new releases please take into account that it's not very realistic to expect every single one of us to know exactly what is going on in all different genres in all countries around the world. If you have to do a couple of thousand "copy-and-paste"s in one single day, it's easy to lose concentration and you simply don't notice much anymore.
We are well aware of the fact that some people will not like these decisions, but so be it. You can't please everybody all the time. Our role has always been to show you the way to great music you might never have heard before, so you could discover and buy it when and if available. Our role has never been to contribute to the music industry's Apocalypse.
Signed, Sealed, Delivered.. all yours. ;)
* updated january 3rd 2009, changed dates 2007 to 2008 *
