During an era littered with bloated hair bands charging increasingly higher prices for tickets to see arena concerts, Fugazi emerged from the underground Hardcore scene as a form of protest. They insisted no one pay more than five dollars at the door and that no one be denied entry. That’s right. Affordable shows for all ages. That’s fucking democracy. That’s making music for the people.
Created by Freddie Wong and Brandon Laatsch, NODE Studios is a new gaming channel on YouTube. And it’s fast becoming one of our favorite places to find gaming content. They’ve got multiplayer demos, mashups, and yelling. In other words: it’s real. This week, the guys are taking on EA’s Army of Two: The Devil’s Cartel. And we’ve got an exclusive first look at the film that’ll premiere this morning.
NODE’s Army of Two: Close to Home is a fan film that’s big on action. And lighting people on fire. (Naturally.) Download the BitTorrent Bundle for free, and you’ll get behind-the-scenes access: the trailer, director interviews, set photos, and the video’s official track, ‘Alpha to Omega.’
Check out the BitTorrent Bundle. Check out NODE for the full film.
In this week’s FDL: vintage live shows from Billy Bragg and Minutemen, circa 1985. Beautifully preserved punk nostalgia. Happy Friday, people.
Friday Download
1. Minutemen / San Francisco, CA / 1985
2. Billy Bragg / Koln, Germany / 1985
A few days ago, Dave Grohl’s SXSW keynote reminded us why we believe in music. Why we’re ridiculously lucky to be alive here and now, at a time when it’s “easier than ever to start our own bands, make our own records, book our own shows, and publish our own zines”. We can grow up to be anything. We might not have maps to guide us. We might not have the same hard-and-fast rules to hold on to. But we don’t have anything holding us back, either.
Which brings us to Alex Day. There’s a rule about how labels = charts. On Tuesday, we were reminded again that, in fact, they don’t. Alex Day’s Epigrams And Interludes collection outcharted Justin Timberlake’s The 20/20 Experience in the UK, and debuted at #22 in the US. A kid with a YouTube channel who makes music on his terms is more powerful than the industry machine.
How’s that possible? To get there, Day broke another rule. He worked with us. Day’s objective was to get his songs to people. We partnered with him to distribute ten tracks and stems through BitTorrent to 170 million fans. Within seven days, he had 1 million downloads – a viewcount that would require several weeks to build on YouTube. 38 thousand people checked out the remixes he posted on SoShare. And as a result, Day received 60 thousand additional visits to iTunes. All from BitTorrent users.
By releasing downloads first via BitTorrent, Day was able to reach the critical mass of fans necessary to drive up album sales. The old rules don’t apply, anymore. We congratulate Alex for breaking them. Our million-and-oneth download could be you, if you just click here.
In this week’s FDL: fighting words. We brushed up on strategy with Sun Tzu’s The Art of War. We watched girls kick ass in Lady Whirlwind. We found a copy of The Streetfighter, the first film to earn an X-rating in the US for extreme violence. (Sigh.) We went stealth mode/beast mode with Ninja Death Trilogy. And we got schooled by the master, Bruce Lee. Read on for the free torrent links.
We’ve been working on ways for artists to connect with fans; experimenting with sponsored content distribution through the BitTorrent. We’ve been working on ways for artists to collaborate on assignments; beta projects like SoShare. And today, we’re working with Alex Day on ways for artists to collaborate with fans.
Alex Day’s album is out next week. So we’re releasing a free, ten-track collection from Epigrams And Interludes on BitTorrent. We’re also releasing all the stems via SoShare. Remix them. Build something amazing and unheard-of. Share them with the world. And share them back with Alex, by taggingthem #alexdayremixes. You’ve got thirty days from now to get them in. Winners will get a special shout out and swag from Mr. Day.
For the uninitiated: Alex Day is a pop musician, YouTube artist, and maybe, just maybe, the future of music. In 2006, Alex started posting his music videos on YouTube. Today, he has over 500,000 YouTube subscribers, and 100 million video views. His music has been streamed more than 1 million times. Day gave his life to music and gave music away. With over 500,000 paid downloads, and three Top UK 40 hits, he is one of the recording industry’s brightest young stars. He has never worked with a record label.
This is what happens when artists and fans work together. Success 2.0 is shared.
In this week’s FDL, the best of cult film: five free classics, courtesy of the intrepid preservationists over at archive.org. Here’s what’s playing in our late night screening room. Up first: Freaks, a look at the world of sideshow performers. Next on deck: Manos: The Hands of Fate, a film described by Wikipedia as among the worst ever made. Would we stop at Reefer Madness? The answer is NO. Read on for the full list of free downloads.
In this week’s FDL, everything epic, odd, and semi-occult. A classic documentary about finding Bigfoot. An un-natural history of the natural world, featuring unicorns, dragons, and basilisks. A live performance from the (Grateful) Dead, and one from Big Head Todd & The Monsters. And a 19th century cabinet of curiosities.
Do you dare download? Read on for the free torrent links.
Friday afternoon conspiracies. In this edition of FDL, we’re exploring freemasonry, secret societies and secret machines. Paranoid much? Read on for six free downloads, courtesy of the intrepid preservationists over at archive.org.
