13 ms·
Kanye West caught using Pirate Bay to download music software
- Kristine1975 11y agoJust because he had a tab with ThePirateBay open doesn't mean he downloaded a pirated copy of the software. He really should install an ad blocker though, to get rid of those "Mac Keeper" and "Attention" tabs.
- varjag 11y agoAmen. He could well be seeding his own indie tracks.
- kristiandupont 11y agoNot sure if you are joking, but the tab title ends with Xfe[...], so it seems pretty likely that it's about Xfer Records Serum.
- S_A_P 11y agoAgree it isn't proof, but still seems fishy. I agree with the article though that he should take the chance to plug Tidal and should be playing his music through the service he is using, no?
- pricechild 11y agoTorrentFreak comments in more detail on the screenshot: https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-offers-tech-support-to-pirating-kanye-west-160302/ https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-offers-tech-support-to-p... and makes it seem less likely.
- coldtea 11y agoA tab with Pirate Bay, a tab of the software vendor's website, an article with "50 best VST plugins" open... And on the Pirate Bay tab he had searched for Xfe... (the name of the plugin vendor, so probably typed "Xfer records Serum"). Sure looks like he was downloading it... (Btw, I recommended anybody interest in electronic music product checks it out, it's an excellent wavetable/additive synthesis audio plugin with crazy good filters to avoid aliasing).
- LgWoodenBadger 11y agoHe was only in there to get directions on how to get away from there. Right Principal Skinner?
- pfarnsworth 11y agoTo be fair we don't even know if this is his computer. It could have been in the studio or maybe on of his assistants told him "Hey Kanye listen to this" and he just took a pic of it.
- softawre 11y agoThat "Attention" tab..I get that when using my VPN and hitting any CloudFlare site.
- marvel_boy 11y agoLet's start a Kickstarter to help kanye west afford a copy of Serum.
- Piskvorrr 11y agoSource: https://twitter.com/deadmau5/status/704878038937243648 https://twitter.com/deadmau5/status/704878038937243648
- Kenji 11y agoIt could have been worse, he could have had a tab open with midget porn ;P Seriously, guys, sanitize your screenshots. Every screenshot I take, I crop down as much as possible and check for stuff like that thoroughly. Bookmarks, tabs, windows, system tray, notification, they all could potentially contain very private or even incriminating information.
- distances 11y agoOr just take a screenshot of the intended content instead of the whole screen. Most (?) screenshot software have a feature for choosing a specific window / section of a window.
- raverbashing 11y agoOn MacOS it's builtin, Cmd + Shift + 4 lets you select a screen area (yeah, not as intuitive as having a PrtScrn button)
- skykooler 11y agoBut at least MacOS screenshot keys automatically save the screenshot. Took me ages to figure out that on XP you have to paste into Paint or something after hitting the 'printscr' button.
- hollander 11y agoHe used his friggin phone to make the screenshot. That just shows how intuitive he is. And I may joke about it, but it probably is the easiest way to do this when you're not logged into twitter on the laptop.
- pidg 11y agoAnd <Cmd Shift 4> <Space> lets you take a screenshot of a window!
- coldtea 11y agoBut I thought only criminals had something to hide /s!
- sigmar 11y agoDid he search Google for "Pirate bay torrent xfer"? Because the page title on pirate bay seems to be static no matter what you search for (unlike in the pic) edit: someone posted above that he was on this site (might not have been on this specific page though) http://www.pirate-baytorrent.com/xfer-records-serum-1-07b4-vsti-aax-x86x64-extras.html http://www.pirate-baytorrent.com/xfer-records-serum-1-07b4-v...
- cooper12 11y agoMeh, "people in glass houses...": > @deadmau5 > I used a pirated copy of sylenth on my last 4 albums. #TrueReveal https://twitter.com/deadmau5/status/367265601640603648 https://twitter.com/deadmau5/status/367265601640603648 Steve Aoki was also caught using the above software in a music video with Linkin Park, though he proved that he had bought the software but his assistants installed a pirated version on his road laptop. http://stoneyroads.com/2013/08/steve-aoki-responds-to-claims-of-pirated-synth-wear http://stoneyroads.com/2013/08/steve-aoki-responds-to-claims... I think this all comes down to effort and usability. To purchase the software you have to go through a bunch of screens, enter payment info, download, install, and then enter a serial number. For pirating software you just search for it and it's usually easier to install, with some cracks even bypassing steps. What's interesting to me is that people don't question their own ethics before doing this, especially music producers like Kanye who don't like pirates. Then again we've seen similar backlash against people using adblockers, but most would sympathize with them instead for other reasons.
- robmccoll 11y agoLately my experience has been more like log into website with pre-existing account, download latest legitimate licensed software.
- r3bl 11y agoThe most amusing situation to me was when Carnage made a god-awful tutorial for Razer Music, in which he used a pirated version of Sylenth. Once he got called out by the public, he said[1] in a tweet: > “lmaooo wtf why does it matter?” LennarDigital (the company behind Sylenth) decided to reply to his tweet and said that they "are happy to make it a matter". He later on went and accused Razer that it was their laptop in the video, which resulted in them canceling the contract with him and removing that god-awful tutorial from their website. I laughed so hard as the accusations went on and on. [1] http://www.youredm.com/2015/10/22/sylenth-threatens-to-sue-carnage-after-using-cracked-version-of-software-in-808-tutorial/ http://www.youredm.com/2015/10/22/sylenth-threatens-to-sue-c...
- pmarreck 11y ago
- OscarCunningham 11y agoPerhaps just like everyone else he's realised that pirating is easier than buying, no matter how much money you have.
- logicfiction 11y agoIt's dead simple to buy Serum (first-hand experience) and you don't have to worry about malware, I don't buy this premise. They also actively support and develop their products and you get free updates and support for years. I don't see why it's so hard to buy.
- kdamken 11y agoNot defending him here, he's a professional millionaire musician and should just buy it... But music software is a HUGE pain in the ass to purchase. Pro Tools, for example, is tied to a dongle. It's 2016, and that's still the security method they choose to use. Lose the dongle? You're fucked. It's unfathomably frustrating.
- robmccoll 11y agoNot even the majority of major music production suites - Ableton Live, FL Studio, Propellerhead Reason are all incredibly easy to license, download, and install and all three have easy-to-use market places to purchase and download third party plug-ins. Pro Tools is really more of an exception than the rule. To be honest, I'm not sure why people are still using it extensively other than legacy purchases and lock-in with some hardware vendors.
- busterarm 11y agoPeople still use Pro Tools? I can't think of a single popular commercial DAW that's worse to use. Pretty much the only people I see use it are all aspiring rappers. I guess it has hip hop cred. Tangentially, I can't think of a single piece of Avid software that isn't a flaming piece of shit. Full disclosure: I used to have to support Avid.
- pierrec 11y agoOh yes they do. As far as I can tell, it still has the monopoly in film music editing, at the very least. Otherwise I agree with you on all accounts.
- darkr 11y agoPro Tools is still pretty much _the_ standard for audio recording, mixing and AV post-production. If you're just producing electronic music, want VSTs, and/or just using a few live tracks, then yeah; you're probably far better off using something else.
- 11y ago
- azru 11y agoThat's not his YouTube account logged in. There's a pic that shows more out there, and seemingly Kanye took a pic of someone's computer.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- karlcoelho1 11y agoits a publicity stunt, this is so freaking obvious. kanye west knows the dangers in the public more than enough, to know what he's posting. anyone agree?
- caractacus 11y agoNo. Kanye is a law unto himself with a vast team of reactive PR people who try and perform damage control as and when needed.
- soundwave106 11y agoNot likely in my opinion. This is not without precedent, there's been several EDM artists who have not thought twice of doing a studio shot with some cracked plugin exposed. This includes some big EDM names that really should have known better, given that anything like that is bound to generate many articles (Martin Garrix, Avicii, and Steve Aoki were the previous "big name offenders" exposed for showing pirate copies of Sylenth1 in videos). More to the point, several less known DJs have done things (like say a demo for Future Music) where eagle eyes will spot pirated synths there too. It's pretty clear that Kanye didn't install a popup blocker while visiting The Pirate Bay; if he actually knew what he was doing, surely he'd at least do that, right? :)
- ylhert 11y agoyea, no.
- unfocused828 11y agoThe Serum team should be pleased with all of the exposure they get from this.
- 6stringmerc 11y agoMight seem trite but one of the reasons I attribute my rather good PC music laptop experience over the past 10 years is not using any pirate/suspect downloads. Be it software or music itself by others. Sticking with what I could purchase (or demo) meant relatively stable installs. A couple versions of Ableton Live were shaky, but along the way things have been patched and I am a happy customer. Lots of free VSTs as well, it doesn't take a lot of research. Whether it's him doing it or a member of his 'team' - the guy has a writer stable of 14 known artists[1] and brings in others like he was giving away free studio time and Yeezy shoes - it just smacks of lazy. Certainly it happens in the industry. Lots of various approaches are easy or time consuming type difficult[2], I guess it kind of depends on the producer and the goal. Personally I just like using great new tools[3] that cost very little but allow for a lot of creative expressiveness. YMMV. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GOOD_Music#Current_acts https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GOOD_Music#Current_acts [2] http://motherboard.vice.com/read/the-little-known-recording-trick-that-makes-singers-sound-perfect http://motherboard.vice.com/read/the-little-known-recording-... [3] https://www.propellerheads.se/figure https://www.propellerheads.se/figure
- kevando 11y agoKW only does a thing with the intention that people talk about the thing, and by extension KW. I never thought I'd see a KW thing on hacker news.
- blueintegral 11y agoIf you opened some of the built in audio files in Windows XP with a hex editor, you could see that they were created with a cracked version of SoundForge. http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/pirated-software-used-to-create-help-content-in-microsofts-windows-xp,news-14167.html http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/pirated-software-used-to-creat...
- TazeTSchnitzel 11y agoVaguely related, Windows 95's iconic The Microsoft Sound was composed on a Mac.
- dragonbonheur 11y agoAnd here I am, stuck with LMMS... Honestly, LMMS is rather cool once you get used to it.
- kruhft 11y agoLMMS is pretty awesome actually. I used it to write all of my last album: https://kruhft.bandcamp.com/album/listener
- fitzwatermellow 11y agoHate to hijack what I am sure is a mind expanding discussion on software distribution, the law of karma, and modern celebrity. But I am curious about something and was hoping to get an opinion from some of the music production experts on here. Of which there appear to be legion. Which is awesome :) How difficult is it to duplicate Serum-esque wavetable generation using ChucK or CSound? It seems in my uninformed opinion you would have a lot more freedom using raw math over visual gui. Do you have the same range of available osc's and filters as you have in commercial packages? Or would they be relatively easy to implement if missing out of the box?
- JonnieCache 11y ago>How difficult is it to duplicate Serum-esque wavetable generation using ChucK or CSound? Serum-esque? Sure, selecting waveforms from a lookup table isn't difficult. However implementing clean sounding alias-free oscillators that can themselves be modulated at audio rate and so on requires years of accumulated domain knowledge. On top of that serum has all kinds of fancy features, such as the ability to import wave files and generate good-sounding wavetables from them, high quality filters, (look up zero-delay-feedback filters) complex modulation routing and most importantly, a GUI that lets you navigate all this complexity and actually compose music with it. >you would have a lot more freedom using raw math over visual gui. Exactly. Freedom is the enemy of creativity. Hence why the majority of max/msp users don't actually make music with it. The more layers of abstraction and choices there are standing between your musical idea and making actual sounds, the harder it is to ever realise those ideas. By the time you've finished messing around with all the technical stuff and making endless choices, you've lost the idea. Hence the endless appeal of the acoustic guitar and human voice combo. It's certainly possible to make music the other way around, where you let the machines have the ideas and you simply guide them, but it's a very different thing. Using pure math and code really shines here, as well as modular synthesis equipment. EDIT: talking of modular, Waldorf, the german company who pioneered wavetable synths in the 90s (you'll take my uWave XT from my cold dead hands!) have just released a wavetable-based eurorack module, and it's pretty extra-crunchy, no anti aliasing here ;) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEL50hCEj7Q https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEL50hCEj7Q https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssk_0mg6N6k https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssk_0mg6N6k
- bossx 11y agoPublicity stunt
- Tenhundfeld 11y agoHey Kenji, just FYI, I find something a little off-putting in using "midget porn" as the example of something worse. Maybe I've become overly sensitive to possibly hurtful language in this era of codes of conduct, microaggressions, trigger words, etc. But I think it's marginalizing to use the sexuality of a segment of people (consenting adults, let's assume) as something shameful. I've also read that midget is considered a derogatory slur by many in that community. Anyway, I'm not trying to condemn you, because I know you didn't mean anything hurtful or negative. You're just using the phrase as a generic example of sexual deviancy. And sexual deviancy is inherently embarrassing in our Puritanical culture – and worse from a PR perspective. And like I said, I might be way off base here. I might be that annoying guy in the conversation who isn't actually offended but thinks someone else might possibly be offended. But since we're all focused on being more inclusive these days, I thought it was worth saying something. I say accidentally-possibly-exclusionary shit like this all the time – part of the reason I'm more vigilant about it lately, trying to improve my own behavior. :)
- kbart 11y agoand I was naively hoping to find /s at the end of your comment..
- Tenhundfeld 11y agoThat's fine. If OP had an email address in their profile, I would have sent a private message. I'm not trying to make some big statement here, just share a reflection. From the Little People of America organization: "The word 'midget' is used as a derogatory slur to refer to people of short stature. Whether or not the intention of using the word is to bully and to demean, or just as a synonym for small, the term has been deemed a slur by those within the community and should be eliminated accordingly. In a recent organizational statement, LPA put forward a call to action to abolish the word from the everyday nomenclature and to replace it with synonymous designations when necessary."
- Kenji 11y agoThank you, I took notice of your comments. I should add contact options, you're right. As for the offensiveness of my joke, I usually interact in circles where people are less sensitive and can take a joke. I am at odds with the political correctness movement. That is all I can say about this.
- ccallebs 11y agoI understand that what Kanye did was as wrong as any other pirating. However, as a result of that screenshot that software got a free endorsement from Kanye West. I imagine that guy is going to wake up surprised this morning when he looks at total sales from last night.
- ylhert 11y agoIt's not about that one missed sale, but think about all the (even high profile/rich) people who steal the software
- ccallebs 11y agoI definitely understand, I'm not saying pirating is good. I'm especially not saying "Once you hit a certain level of success, you should pirate!" Just suggesting that due to this incident the creators made quite a few sales. I think pirating is wrong and I pay for my software/music. Edit: Whoa! You're one of the creators. Congrats on getting this kind of exposure. It's unfortunate it has to be because wealthy people don't pay for your product. :(
- rasz_pl 11y ago"that guy" deadmaus?
- ccallebs 11y agoI should've said *those people. I didn't know it was a team of two.
- freyr 11y agoIf you look at the YouTube user thumbnail, it's actually producer Mike Dean who's logged in. Kanye and Dean work closely together, and it very well might be a photo of Dean's computer. Speculative and sensationalist reporting by Ars. [1] https://m.youtube.com/user/deanslistproductions https://m.youtube.com/user/deanslistproductions
- ylhert 11y agoXfer records is very small, its just 2 people really (Steve and I). It's nice seeing this get so much attention. We are a very small company (if you can even call it that, I'm not even full time). Every sale is a big deal for Xfer, and piracy definitely hurts us. We don't have the resources to combat it, and we don't put restrictive copy protection on our software because we don't believe in hurting paying customers to slow down piracy. It's always a sad reminder for us when we see people (who can obviously afford our software) stealing it :(
- djhn 11y agoI reckon this will make you top the charts for VST plugin sales for this day, week and maybe even month. Even if that means you will top the VST piracy charts... In fact, is this just a genious marketing stunt..?
- JonnieCache 11y agoIt's already arguably the most highly regarded VST synth for modern digital sounds anyway. Serum is basically the new massive. They don't need marketing stunts.
- djhn 11y agoAh, I see. I've been out of that game for 8+ years.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- KMag 11y ago> stealing it :( <rant> While I empathize with most of your comment, you lost me at the end. Let's not use hyperbolic rhetoric. The crime is copyright infringement (unlawful copying), not stealing (theft), and not plunder and murder on the high seas (piracy). Yes, the sheet music publishers back in the day were able to convince people to use the language of the terrorism of their day (piracy). The hyperbole still harms discourse. </rant>
- ylhert 11y agoXfer records is very small, its just 2 people really (Steve and I). It's nice seeing this get so much attention. We are a very small company (if you can even call it that, I'm not even full time). Every sale is a big deal for Xfer, and piracy definitely hurts us. We don't have the resources to combat it, and we don't put restrictive copy protection on our software because we don't believe in hurting paying customers to slow down piracy. It's always a sad reminder for us when we see people (who can obviously afford our software) stealing it :(
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- Karunamon 11y agoStraight up false headline from Ars, which is sadly becoming more and more of a problem there. Kanye West was not caught doing a damn thing. A screenshot of a computer that may or may not be his has a Pirate Bay tab open in the background. That's a far cry from "caught using to download".
- jharohit 11y agoJeez what a knob this guy...
- vanattab 11y agoBegin #KanyeWestHatesProgrammers
- alanh 11y agoHe recently tweeted that "San Francisco" software execs listen to rap but shamefully weren't lining up for to "invest 1 billion dollars in kanye ideas" [sic]
- cJ0th 11y agoI am wondering whether he did that on purpose just to get attention. But then again I saw many video interviews of famous artists who were using a pirated copy of Sylenth1. Many people probably really are that cheap.
- metanoia 11y agoHe'll probably take credit for making Serum famous.
- kafkaesq 11y agoWait -- what's his net worth again?
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- artine 11y agoIt's not a standalone program. It requires host software (e.g. Logic Pro) to work. See the third system requirement at [0]. [0] https://www.xferrecords.com/products/serum https://www.xferrecords.com/products/serum
- nickpsecurity 11y ago"Browsing and posting like a Gay Fish!"
- dctoedt 11y agoFirst: While I'm definitely not a Kanye fan, I think it's appropriate to withhold judgment on these allegations until more facts are available. Second: Unauthorized use of a copyrighted tool (e.g., music-editing software) to create a copyrighted work of authorship --- a song and a sound recording of the song, let's say --- normally wouldn't result in loss of the copyright in either the song or the sound recording. (This is a different situation than creating a derivative work without authorization.) But such unauthorized use of the music-editing software could result in the author of the song and sound recording having to pay the owner of the copyright in the music-editing software for the former's "indirect profits" arising from the infringement. That can be a remedy with real teeth. The case I usually teach to illustrate this point is Frank Music Corp. v. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc. [0], 886 F.2d 1545 (9th Cir. 1989) (Frank Music II). In that case: + The MGM Grand Hotel had a floor show called Hallelujah Hollywood!, which included 'tributes' to various MGM movies. The floor show incorporated significant portions of the Broadway musical Kismet, which years earlier had been made into an MGM movie. + The court found that MGM's use of the Kismet material in its floor show went beyond its 'movie rights' license and therefore infringed the copyright in the underlying Broadway musical. + As a result, MGM had to pay not just a portion of profits from the Hallelujah Hollywood! floor show itself (such as profits from sales of tickets to the show), but also 2% of the profits from the MGM Grand's overall hotel operations — including 2% of the casino profits — which, the court found, were indirectly attributable to the promotional value of the floor show. [1] It didn't help MGM's case that its annual report had boasted about how great the floor show was as a draw for the casino, thus helping the copyright owner prove up its case for indirect profits. [0] https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=16903471126265449346 https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=169034711262654... [1] The above description is copied essentially verbatim from my piece, http://www.oncontracts.com/a-better-way-to-handle-a-breach-of-contract-at-least-in-some-cases/ http://www.oncontracts.com/a-better-way-to-handle-a-breach-o...