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Gene Simmons gets kiss of death from notorious web forum
Kiss bassist is bumped offline after comments endorsing aggressive stance against copyright infringement
Never one to bite his tongue (sorry), the public face of Kiss, its bassist Gene Simmons, has become the latest target of assiduous online attackers, Anonymous.
Two of Simmons' official websites, SimmonsRecords.com and GeneSimmons.com, have been hit by the group of activists as an apparent reprisal for insisting that musicians should be far more aggressive in the pursuit of illicit filesharers. The Anonymous group, linked umbilically to influential online forum 4Chan, have forced several websites linked to copyright-protection bodies offline in recent weeks.
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Hi Alisdair, Kiss bassist is bumped offline after comments endorsing aggressive stance against copyright infringement
Never one to bite his tongue (sorry), the public face of Kiss, its bassist Gene Simmons, has become the latest target of assiduous online attackers, Anonymous. I never thought that much about him until recently, when his willingness to fight for musicians and their royalties is become more and more apparent. He's a shrewd businessman - maybe he'll show them that they've bitten off mo0re than they can chew. My feeling is that if the courts get totally inundated with lawsuit after lawsuit, they will have no other choice but to take notice. This is what SHOULD have been happening all along, but the suits are too lazy (or, put another way, they won't litigate unless it is big enough to be worth it - to them). best, Bobby
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--- In jazz_guitar@..., Bob Hansmann <bobbybmusic@...> wrote:
Hi Alisdair,
Kiss bassist is bumped offline after comments endorsing aggressive
stance against copyright infringement
Never one to bite his tongue (sorry), the public face of Kiss, its
bassist Gene Simmons, has become the latest target of assiduous online
attackers, Anonymous. I never thought that much about him until recently, when his willingness
to fight for musicians and their royalties is become more and more
apparent. He's a shrewd businessman - maybe he'll show them that they've
bitten off mo0re than they can chew.
My feeling is that if the courts get totally inundated with lawsuit
after lawsuit, they will have no other choice but to take notice. This
is what SHOULD have been happening all along, but the suits are too lazy
(or, put another way, they won't litigate unless it is big enough to be
worth it - to them).
Bobby, I think it's good that he's spoken out and highlighted the issue but my general feeling that lawsuits against individuals are not really the way to go. IMO, it would be more effective to pursue the corporates such as Google/Youtube etc., who benefit by way of ad revenue in part generated all the illegally uploaded music/movies/books. Whatever else he may be, Gene Simmons is a successful business man and promoter. One of my former students, knows him and some of the members of the Kiss band well, they grew up together. Back in the late 60's/Early 70's my student was for 8-9 years, the house bass player at the Concord Resort Hotel in the so-called "Borscht Belt" part of the Catskills (He studied Upright Bass with me). He told me that Gene was always hustling on thing or another, and forming and dissolving bands. As musician they thought he was a joke, and he was the frequent but of jokes, he even asked around some of the guys who played the "Borscht Belt" if they'd like to join him, no-one took him up on the offer, but now look whose laughing! -- Alisdair MacRae Birch Guitarist/Bassist/Educator/Arranger
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Update:
Gene Simmons Directly Threatens Anonymous With Legal Action, Jail Time
October 17, 2010
Thomas Mennecke
Gene Simmons, frontman of the band KISS, is hardly impressed with the DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack on GeneSimmons.com - and indirectly - SimmonsRecords.com. In fact, according to a news post made to his site yesterday, Gene is threatening legal action against the perpetrators, along with posting their names and pictures online.
Here's the post as it appeared yesterday:
Some of you may have heard a few popcorn farts re: our sites being threatened by hackers.
Our legal team and the FBI have been on the case and we have found a few, shall we say "adventurous" young people, who feel they are above the law.
And, as stated in my MIPCOM speech, we will sue their pants off.
First, they will be punished.
Second, they might find their little butts in jail, right next to someone who's been there for years and is looking for a new girl friend.
We will soon be printing their names and pictures.
We will find you.
You cannot hide.
Stay tuned
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Hi Alisdair, Bobby, I think it's good that he's spoken out and highlighted the issue but my general feeling that lawsuits against individuals are
not really the way to go. IMO, it would be more effective to pursue
the corporates such as Google/Youtube etc., who benefit by way of ad revenue in part generated all the illegally uploaded music/movies/books. The groups (we all know who they are) who have been successful in the courts over the years were those who attacked, and attacked, and attacked, over and over, and over. They usually had the help of the ACLU or some other organization, while musicians unfortunalety have to pay for lawuers who are only interested in making a big score for themselves, but the point is to sue, and sue, and sue again, even if the courts think the suits to be frivolous. This is and has been my argument with groups like the Union, ASCAP, and the like - other than lip-service, they don't really fight all that hard for their individual members. They have legal staffs (albeit limited), and ultimately it's their membership who pays those legal fees. If they went after individuals, and didn't give up, it would discourage so many "covers-done-badly" (or otherwise) from saturating the marketplace with freebies. If individuals knew they risked a lawsuit, they would (and should) think twice. AND the bug guys should be sued over and over again, and not just for a negotiation over a token fee which leaves them with everything and the composer/performer with almost nothing. If I were to push for radio airplay of a recording and get it, I would be sued almost immediately, either for monies, or for cease-and-desist. And I would lose. The Internet is and should be no different. But if a lawsuit only comes around once in a while by a mousr against an elephant, the courts will not pay attention. Suit after suit after suit is what makes them take notice. It's really too bad that musicians don't have any representation from organizations with real balls, like AFTRA. The Musician's Union is more concerned with work-dues than they are over anything else, and don't even show enough teeth to keep canned music off Broadway. best, Bobby best, Bobby
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On 10/18/2010 1:01 AM, akmbirch wrote: Our legal team and the FBI have been on the case and we have found a few, shall we say "adventurous" young people, who feel they are above the law.
And, as stated in my MIPCOM speech, we will sue their pants off.
First, they will be punished.
Second, they might find their little butts in jail, right next to someone who's been there for years and is looking for a new girl friend.
We will soon be printing their names and pictures.
We will find you.
You cannot hide.
Stay tuned EXACTLY my point. Way to go, Gene! Has ANY music representation organization had the balls to do anything even close to this over the last (over) 2 decades????? The closest I've seen is badly written ads in Billboard Magazine, and we all know how many people read that. best, Bobby
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hmmm,
Hi Alisdair,
Virtually no response to this thread, yet (not counting those I already deleted) 10 responses in the past 10 minutes or so regarding Seymore Duncan pick-ups. Is it any surprise that things are the way they are?
I actually know a guy (yes, this is a true story) who complained to me that someone had "ripped off my [his] tune" by taking it from his Website and using it. "His tune" was "his" version of "Girl From Ipanema". When I reminded him of the fact that it wasn't "his tune", and that by not licensing it, he had stolen it himself, he adamantly (as in "argument") insisted that I didn't know what I was talking about, that he played and recorded it, and it was his; and "everybody knows the courts honor that".
Musicians are not known for being the sharpest knives in the drawer, but just how stupid they really are is a question which may have no real answer. How deep is the well? How far is China? How many stars in the sky? These are all much easier questions to tackle.
Gene Simmons, I hope you sue their ever-lovin' asses off. I hope you get their home, their car, and their firstborn daughters to send back in shame when you're finished with them. I applaud you.
best,
Bobby
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Nobody, could be more tired of "Gear Posts" than I am. I delete almost all
of them, never reading them. As the head of Callicoon Music, the Woods
family publishing company, I've seen our royalty income deteriorate to the
point where I have to sell my house and move into an apartment. I KNOW the
state of the music business and what it's done to musicians.
I'm also computer literate, and understand the sources of the problem. Let
me say right now, that I agree with Bobby and Alisdair 100%.
Technologically speaking, the same people who keep inventing safe guards to
piracy are the same people who invent new ways to hack through the safe
guards, and keep stealing. Figure a way around that!
In regard to the 6,000 or so members of this forum, I'll bet that less than
100 actually make a living out of playing or teaching music. Some are
obviously very knowledgeable, and supplement their income where they can by
playing. However, I'm willing to bet that the vast majority are just
interested hobbyists who just want to chit chat about anything related to
guitar. It's the political "chest beaters" really piss me off.
If it's any consolation, I've checked out some other jazz guitar forums, and
they're all the same, with the same bullshit. So...........I'll stick with
us. Better the bullshit from those that you've gotten used to, than having
to get used to a whole new flavor.
Dave Woods
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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Hi Dave, As the head of Callicoon Music, the Woods
family publishing company, I've seen our royalty income deteriorate to the
point where I have to sell my house and move into an apartment. I KNOW the
state of the music business and what it's done to musicians. Ahh, but doesn't it just warm your heart to know that someone somewhere is listening to "Try a Little Tenderness" for free because some warm-hearted, loving individual was caring enough to share "his music" for free? I mean, c'mon - at least people get to hear it - isn't that enough? Here we are, coming into the Holiday Season - that time of year when Holiday recordings are marketed to the max, and when, more importantly, the air waves are thick with Der Bingle singing "White Christmas", Elvis singing "Blue Christmas", Madonna singing "Santa Baby", Gene Autry singing "Rudolph...", and everybody else from Ronnie Spector to krissie Hines to Robert Goulet caroling away. Making holiday recordings has been a staple of the music business since there ever was licensing pay-for-play on the radio, and just about every artist, regardless of genre, has used this as a guaranteed source of income. Hell, if it weren't for Christmas, Johnny Marks would have had to get a day job - his entire career was his immense catalog of Christmas tunes. What will we see as these things get increasingly pirated? "The best is yet to come and won't it be fine..." Tangentially, I've been turned down by publishing companies for pieces and transcriptions of mine, works for classic guitar. The companies liked them well enough, sure, but, as they said, after they go through all the expense but before the ink was to dry on the scores, everybody would just steal them, and no one would even license for public performance. In short, unless they were recorded by someone who could generate more record sales than Segovia himself, they couldn't afford to do it. Ask yourself, classic guitarists out there - when was the last time you saw a new piece? I can answer that, by the way. Angelo Gilardino of the Segovia Institute has published (himself) works which were refused by Segovia, and which, for that reason, never saw the light of day. These works are how old? He is absolutely right to finally get these wonderful pieces out there, but it is a special and unique undertaking. Did John Williams ever publish his transcription of "Cavatina" or "Sakura"? - no. So, we all suffer. Has anyone out there noticed just how little new music there is? In regard to the 6,000 or so members of this forum, I'll bet that less than
100 actually make a living out of playing or teaching music. Some are
obviously very knowledgeable, and supplement their income where they can by
playing. However, I'm willing to bet that the vast majority are just
interested hobbyists who just want to chit chat about anything related to
guitar. Probably true. I post here because I genuinely like the people here, regardless of their position (musically, politically, and spiritually). But as to the pro end of it, other than from a few I don't look here for that. Like point made of the the movie, "The Gig" , "There are too many amateurs in this business". It's just the way it is, and, at least as far as this and other lists are concerned, those amateurs are some very, very nice people. Angelo commented a while back as to whether I thought a musician is better off playing the "toilets in Brooklyn". He is absolutely correct in that Brooklyn is not the new Mecca, and it's not going to replace the greatness that was once Manhattan anytime soon. Musicians flocking there to elude NYC real estate prices would be well advised to remember that they still have to "cross the bridge" if they are going to be heard by anybody. It's too bad that Manhattan was given to the landlords, realtors, and bankers, but that's just the way it is. Maybe one day some politician may realize just how important the arts are to the economic well being of Manhattan and do something to get it back under control, but I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for it. Dave, I know you are going through a particularly and unnecessarily rough time, and I want you to know that if there is anything I can do to help, you need only contact me. If I hear one more musician harp on about how this or that great musician just died because they couldn't afford health insurance despite their long and productive career I'll spit at them. If they truly cared, they'd wake up and treat the music business as a business and stand tall with their fellow musicians instead of competing with them "on the cheap"; but they don't - they move on the very next day as if nothing at all had happened. Gene Simmons, again, I applaud you for having the balls which most musicians, music organizations, and music attorneys left at the door. warmest thoughts and wishes, Bobby
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--- In jazz_guitar@..., Bob Hansmann <bobbybmusic@...> wrote:
Maybe one day some
politician may realize just how important the arts are to the economic
well being of Manhattan and do something to get it back under control,
but I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for it.
"Politicians Often Tone Deaf to Songwriters' Rights," featured in Landslide, the American Bar Association Section of Intellectual Property Law section's magazine on intellectual property law and related issues, provides further detail on the growing number of politicians-from President Barack Obama to Sen. John McCain-who have been cited for the unauthorized use of copyrighted music in their campaign efforts.
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