Reefa Posted December 25, 2013 Share Posted December 25, 2013 For more than a decade piracy has been a hot topic in the music industry. While some of the major labels have tried to eliminate the problem by taking pirates to court, English heavy metal band Iron Maiden has taken a more positive approach to the phenomenon. Instead of hunting down pirates for lawsuits, the band is using file-sharing data to plan their tour locations, and not without success. Over the past several years numerous studies have shown that on average file-sharers spend more money on legal purchases, including concert tickets and merchandise.The most logical explanation for this finding is that “pirates” are more engaged than those who don’t share, and that they complement their legal purchases with unauthorized downloads.This means that unauthorized file-sharers are in fact the music industry’s best customers. So, instead of hunting down these pirates for lawsuits, it may be more rewarding to play for them.The English heavy metal band Iron Maiden is doing just that. The veteran musicians use the services of music analytics company Musicmetric which allows them to see where their albums are most pirated.“If you know what drives engagement you can maximize the value of your fan base. Artists could say ‘we’re getting pirated here, let’s do something about it’, or ‘we’re popular here, let’s play a show’,” Gregory Mead, CEO and co-founder of Musicmetric told Cite.Instead of suing these unauthorized file-sharers, the band used the information as input for its tours, and not without success.The overview below, for example, shows that Iron Maiden is most popular among Brazilian pirates with 463,467 downloads in recent years. The band is also relatively popular in Chile with 1,300 downloads per 100,000 Internet users, which totals 70,932 downloads. Iron Maiden’s popularity on BitTorrent (large) In part based on this file-sharing data, Iron Maiden’s recent tour had a heavy focus on South America, where the band has a lot of Twitter followers and unauthorized downloads. The band played in Paraguay for the first time, for example, and concerts were sold out throughout the region.According to Musicmetric the file-sharing data helped Iron Maiden turn these pirates into paying customers, simply by heading over there and playing for them. It’s impossible to download the true experience of a live concert, so the chances are high that several pirates will turn up.“If you engage with fans, there is a chance to turn a percentage into paying customers. You can see that through various bands using the BitTorrent network in a legal way to share content,” Mead says.It’s refreshing to see that instead of hunting down pirates for lawsuits, file-sharing data is being used by artists to plan their gigs. After all, it is much more rewarding to play for your fans than to try to bankrupt them in court.Source:http://torrentfreak.com/iron-maiden-tracks-down-pirates-and-gives-them-concerts-131224/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ambrocious Posted December 25, 2013 Share Posted December 25, 2013 Good example of how to win over a pirate and to get them to buy your album. Desperate times call for desperate measures. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
speedpedal Posted December 25, 2013 Share Posted December 25, 2013 I see it as a very smart marketing shift. At least they've discovered who really buys their stuff, and why this approach will have a positive outcome. I think the Studios might just be on the brink of a new and more lucrative approach to Marketing if they're capable of grasping this type of thinking.However negatively impacting their biggest source of income, and swallowing a bit of reality might not be all that easy for them. The most intuitive Marketers always come out on top. A big applause goes to Iron Maiden for this one!(Wink, wink, nudge, nudge.)Parting words . . . This will be the new wave of promotion, and those who don't embrace very quickly. won't be around very long. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
janedoe Posted December 25, 2013 Share Posted December 25, 2013 (edited) I love this sort of bold and innovative thinking instead of the tired, ineffective and extremely negative "let's bankrupt a few file sharers" approach that only leads to bad press. There's still loads of $$$ to be made, as long as they give customers what they want. Edit: This news is fake, see my comment below. Edited December 30, 2013 by janedoe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SnakeMasteR Posted December 25, 2013 Share Posted December 25, 2013 Fantastic, come on Germans, pirate more. :showoff: :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackieo Posted December 25, 2013 Share Posted December 25, 2013 (edited) BRILLIANT USE OF RADAR TO FIND YOUR FANS!Exposure = Fans. do tha math.its fukking free advertising.if i download something and invite my buds over to watch/listen to it, i have just exposed someone WHO NEVER HEARD OF MAIDEN.And then they go on a search to find the back catalog and learn more about something new.WHY CANT THESE FUKKERS LEARN THIS?Digital Word of Mouth..back in the day ( remember an invention called the TURNTABLE?) ON FRIDAY NIGHT MY BEST FRIENDS WOULD COME OVER AND WE WOULD BRING OUR BEST ALBUM COLLECTION AND MAKE CASSETTE TAPES AND TRADE N SHIT...AND THEN ...finding out about a new band i never heard about i would go out to the record store and search for that album I never knew even existed. And I became A FAN AND WENT TO THEIR FUCKING CONCERT. how is this any different?APOLOGY FOR MY LANGUAGE, BUT I AM A PASSIONATE MUSICIAN/SONG-WRITER AS WELL, AND I BEGGED FOR ALL THIS TECHNOLOGY BACK IN THE 90'S WHEN I WAS TRYING TO BE A ROCK STAR, AND HAD (ONLY) LOCAL COLLEGE RADIO AIRPLAY.And Thanks to Technology and You Tube (Fuck U Google+) Band Wikihttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_MaidenDiscography Wikihttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Maiden_discography#Video_albumsMerry Christmas!I GIVE YOU IRON MAIDENLIVE AFTER DEATH 1985 1. "Intro: Churchill's Speech" 2. "Aces High" 3. "2 Minutes to Midnight" 4. "The Trooper" 5. "Revelations" 6. "Flight of Icarus" 7. "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" 8. "Powerslave" 9. "The Number of the Beast" 10. "Hallowed Be Thy Name" 11. "Iron Maiden" 12. "Run to the Hills" 13. "Running Free Edited December 25, 2013 by jackieo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pedrito Posted December 25, 2013 Share Posted December 25, 2013 Up the Irons! :rockon: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zz4spd Posted December 25, 2013 Share Posted December 25, 2013 i always loved this band, and i'm glad to see this post indeed. they are really setting a great example for the whole world. rock on !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackieo Posted December 25, 2013 Share Posted December 25, 2013 (edited) Henry Rollins says it best here, in this interview, on sharing his stuff online: @ 10:29 into this video"How do you show that you like your fans? You don't ding em for money every possible chance you get!You make the CDs long, and you add alot of cool bonus cuts! You don't charge 50 bucks for a T-shirt, you charge a little bit more than what ya made off it; When kids download your stuff for free off the internet, and they tell ya about it, you don't get mad at em! My party-line is: Pal, i'd rather be heard than paid! So if you wanna steal my stuff, you go ahead and do to me, what record labels have been doing to me, for, you know ...Now you get to play-the-man! Good for you! But, am i gonna come after you like Lars Ulrich, demanding my 35 cents? Nah man, Y'know, if you can't afford to listen to my music, n if you gotta get it off the internet, at least you're rockin!" I have so much respect for Henry Rollins and his entire career, I encourage you to look him up as well on You Tube,Both as musician in Black Flag, and his solo career, (remember MTV?) and also as stand-up talk in his shows, he travels around the world enlightening the population to the facts of life.God Bless You Henry Rollins! A moment of truth along with music Edited December 25, 2013 by jackieo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackieo Posted December 25, 2013 Share Posted December 25, 2013 (edited) Sorry, not to go off topic, Henry Rollins on the current situation: Edited December 25, 2013 by jackieo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackieo Posted December 25, 2013 Share Posted December 25, 2013 (edited) <-------- test- i tried to change the text over my star avatar over there, and it froze the animation... so i changed it back to one word. Edited December 25, 2013 by jackieo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
speedpedal Posted December 27, 2013 Share Posted December 27, 2013 If all the comments here are a reflection of how the majority feels.The Music Marketing folks will be feverishly trying to figuring out how they can capitalize on an innovative marketing trend. However Erasing all the ill will they've created for themselves will be their biggest challenge. Wake up! it's a new world out there. The Old Boy marketing is dying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
janedoe Posted December 30, 2013 Share Posted December 30, 2013 So... turns out this news was completely fake: http://www.nsaneforums.com/topic/200273-why-the-iron-maiden-playing-for-pirates-error-is-such-a-disappointment/ What a disappointing turn of events. :( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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