The invite-only OiNK, one of the world's biggest a...

The invite-only OiNK, one of the world’s biggest and most efficient BitTorrent music sharing sites, has been raided and shut down. DJ /rupture, one of the musicians whose music was distributed on the site, has some interesting thoughts about what Oink meant to him. (thx, jds)

Submitted by crazymonk on Tue, 10/23/2007 - 5:00am.

Comments (10)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Yz-grdpKVqg

incidentally, happy 48th birthday, weird al!

jbg. | Tue, 10/23/2007 - 10:33am

I'm waiting for the day when the RIAA goes after a file sharer and it turns out to be someone in a major band or someone high up in a label.

RumorsDaily | Tue, 10/23/2007 - 11:56am

By the way, I hadn't seen that Weird Al video before and I really liked it.

RumorsDaily | Tue, 10/23/2007 - 11:57am

oh, glad to help out then. it's been out for over a year. it's the final track on "straight outta lynwood." he wound up using a bunch of different directors and animators for videos from the album.

bill plympton obviously did that one. the "robot chicken" guys did another one. jibjab, too.

jbg. | Tue, 10/23/2007 - 1:07pm

Interesting to compare this from mr. /rupture:
"No bootlegs or concert recordings or unfinished pre-release mixes were permitted."

with this from the telegraph article:
'"OiNK was central to the illegal distribution of pre-release music online," said Jeremy Banks, head of the internet anti-piracy unit of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), which participated in the investigation.'

I have no way of knowing which one is true, but I have my suspicions, and even if my suspicions are wrong, I know which side I'm on.

Also, IF there are leaks of records getting posted anywhere for download, it seems to me to 100% follow that people in the industry (maybe not the highest-ups, but certainly not the lowest-downs, who wouldn't have the necessary access) are already using the p2p or torrent sites (fucking shocker, that) or at the very least are effectively intentionally enabling the massive distribution of leaks. I guess maybe the industry should fire itself.

Jesse | Tue, 10/23/2007 - 4:37pm

They're both true. OiNK had a policy against bootlegs and unfinished mixes, but sometimes they sneaked through. It's also impossible to tell whether a mix is finished or not until the final product is pressed. But they did frequently post final mixes of CD's that weren't being released for several weeks or months.

crazymonk | Tue, 10/23/2007 - 4:41pm

OK, but technically there was a control against this? Like, the admin. didn't endorse this, and if you got away with it it was just that- getting away with it?

Jesse | Tue, 10/23/2007 - 4:46pm

No, final versions pre-released albums were common and plentiful.

crazymonk | Tue, 10/23/2007 - 5:04pm

I.e., once someone at the manufacturing plant or connected to the label uploaded the CD as published, it would stay up on the site.

crazymonk | Tue, 10/23/2007 - 5:04pm

Ah, so something along the lines of, you're supposed to wait for a band to finish their record, but you don't have to wait for the label finish putting the package together and releasing it would be the official line.

Jesse | Tue, 10/23/2007 - 10:00pm