Kanye West Is Reportedly Considering Legal Action Against the Pirate Bay

An anonymous reader writes: Kanye West apparently has a new mission: to sue The Pirate Bay. Last weekend, West announced that his new album, The Life of Pablo, would be sold exclusively as a download from his website and the artist-driven streaming music service Tidal. The news sent Tidal to No. 1 on the U.S. Apple App Store, so West pulled the album from his site and announced it wouldn't be released on other streaming services. The Internet responded by pirating his album in droves.

Comments

God this guy in an idiot

[Harlequin80]

And his music is terrible.

Re:God this guy in an idiot

[Iamthecheese]

Flash that buttery gold, jittery zeitgeist
Wither by the watering hole, water patrol
What are we, a heart huckabee, art fuckery suddenly?
Not enough young in his lung for the water wings?
Colorfully vulgar poacher at a mulch like
'I'ma pull the pulse out a soldier and bolt.' (Fine)
Sign of the time we elapsed
When a primate climb up the spine and attach
Eye for an eye, by the bog's life swamps and vines
They get a rise out of frogs and flies
So when a dog fights hog-tied prize sorta costs a life
The mouths water on a fork and knife
And the allure isn't right
It's gore on a war-torn beach
Where the cash cows actually beef
Blood turns wine when I leak for police
Like 'That's not a riot, it's a feast, let's eat.'


I looked up some of Aesop Rock's lyrics because I was hoping you're right. This isn't quite word salad, but it's close.

Re:God this guy in an idiot

[Britz]

This totally depends. Just because you can't understand all parts of the linux kernel source code, it isn't crap code per se.

Yes, there is beauty in simplicity, but there can also be beauty in complex things. Complex poems with double and triple meaning that might not be obvious at first glance. Or things that you can't understand with background knowledge, simply because you don't share the same background as the author. What if someone writes a beautiful poem about solving a complex programming issue and the joy in that. Can everyone understand that? Is it wrong, because not everyone gets that?

Though lots of people feel like you feel. That is why almost every pop song is about love. Because that is something almost everyone, or at least everyone who buys music, can relate to. Simple and easy to understand is popular. Because it is accessible. Complex and complicated things are not popular. Thus pop songs sell better than operas. Which often is complex music that needs explaining.

Many of the "higher" arts or "fine" arts need some education or can be better enjoyed once you acquire a little background. Or to put it different: An episode of Family Guy is better enjoyed, once you get all the pop culture references. Since they use pop culture, many people get the references and thus Family Guy itself is popular.

Re:God this guy in an idiot

[PopeRatzo]

If your writing has to be explained, then you're doing it wrong.

He was only explaining it to someone who lacked either the insight, the brainpower, or the imagination to understand it himself. "If I don't get your art, then you suck" really isn't the way to go through life.

Fortunately, we don't measure literature by the ability of the least of us to understand it. If we did, James Joyce, William Burroughs, Jorge Luis Borges, Robert Coover, Baudelaire, Thomas Pynchon and many others would be unknown.

Explaining literature was my profession for 25 years. You explain it until the light goes on. Sometimes it never goes on, you know? For people like that, they make reality TV.

Re:God this guy in an idiot

[RavenLrD20k]

I'm too afraid that I might get a copy that has a virus that would force my computer to put his music on endless loop.

That and I have more important things to do with that space on my drives... like keep the free space at a high percentage.

Yawn.

[whoever57]

Tell us if he actually does sue. Otherwise, do we really care what he is considering? He might be considering a run for President, He might be considering competing in NASCAR, he might be considering any number of things, but until he actually does one of them, it's even more uninteresting.

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

A fix..

[fred911]

141A86FD1105A0951EB12A322C088883B5761475

Now, in case The Pirate Bay cowers (doubtful), there's the file hash for the swarm. So if TPB is culpable for providing file hash data , who else is? /. Me?

Guess when you're 56 million in the trick bag, publish a shitty no talent album, where the only business that makes money for you is dependant upon people paying $200 for tennis shoes, you point fingers on anyone you can.

  My guess... filing for protection or rehab.

Tidal sucks. Fuck Kanye and fuck Tidal.

[Anonymous Coward]

Let's clarify what happened. Kanye made his album available on his website and Tidal (where he is a part owner). Tidal has no free ad-supported plans. It's expensive compared to other services. When Tidal surged in popularity on Apple's app store, Kanye pulled his album from his own website. Now it's only available from Tidal.

I'm tired of some albums only being available through different services. Instead of subscribing to one service or buying from one store (like iTunes), this pushes consumers to subscribe to multiple services. It's a pain in the ass. And it's because of greed.

According to Billboard Magazine, some users who purchased the album on Kanye's site were charged multiple times while others never received a copy of the album. Now Kanye says it won't be for sale again, only available for streaming. That means instead of buying a copy of an album and being able to listen to it whenever I want without paying again, Kanye wants people to pay each month for the ability to listen to his album. It's fucking greedy.

Because Kanye is a part owner of Tidal, he has two revenue sources. One is royalties from his album being streamed. The other is profits from the service because he has equity in Tidal. That means he collects royalties from his own work but collects profits from subscriptions to listen both to Kanye's music but that of other artists as well. If you're wealthy and powerful enough to be a part owner of Tidal, you get to profit from your own work plus that of other artists. That's as opposed to artists who aren't as wealthy and powerful, who will get paid at a lower rate because they only get royalties.

I always thought Taylor Swift came across as a bit whiny about Spotify. But at least she said she wanted higher royalties for everyone and expressed concern about artists who weren't wealthy like her. Kanye isn't concerned about other artists. Kanye is concerned about Kanye. He's greedy as hell.

I listen to a lot of new and indie artists who put their videos on YouTube. If I like their music, I'll happy buy it on iTunes. I understand that labels and the RIAA help to finance new artists so I'm not really opposed to them getting a cut. I'd certainly be willing to donate to support new artists if their music is good. But I hate the idea that, if I'm subscribing to a service to listen to some artists, that I have to give greedy bastards like Kanye a cut.

It's time for the market to say "fuck you" to Kanye and "fuck you" to Tidal. Don't subscribe. Support artists who aren't greedy bastards. Support artists who make far better music than Kanye. If people were smart, they would not subscribe to Tidal, stop listening to Kanye, and support artists who aren't greedy. The market could put Tidal out of business, but people are too fucking stupid.

Fuck Kanye. Fuck Tidal. Fuck their greed. That's all.