Here's how to get your files off those "locker" file-sharing sites!

January 20th's takedown of Megaupload is a small victory for creative artists. An early step toward reasserting our rights to control our creative work and to deny criminals from exploiting our art for their profit. You see, all those millions and millions of illegal files (music, films. p&rn, books) are not up there because of an utopian belief in open-source access to art. This isn't about paradise. This is about a new way to screw the artist. Those files are up there so people like Kim Dotcom can earn $50,000,000 a year. Let's be clear about that.

It's using the "pipelines" to deliver our content without permission. What am I talking about? Back on December 16 (2011) Shea and I were scratching our heads wondering what incentivized people to upload the same Steve Roach album 10 times a day @ filesonic. Then we found the answer. Those sites pay users when people download illegal content. $50 for 1000 downloads! Read "Basis of indictment" at Wikipedia. "An incentivizing program was adopted encouraging the upload of 'popular' files in return for payments to successful uploaders." It is all about greed.

Follow the dots. Illegal content brings people to their sites. Those people don't want to wait 3 hours to download a movie, so they upgrade to the premium service and get the movie in 3 minutes. Ka-ching! More profit in the "locker" sites' pockets! The site wins, their incentivized uploader wins, the person illegaly downloading wins. Win-win-win! Who loses? We (the artists) lose!

Let's stop these sites from making money off our creations. Let's pull the plug.

You're probably an artist looking for instructions on how to get your music taken down from those sites. Wouldn't it be nice if it were opt-out? Alas, it is not. You have to find every violation and report it. It's a game of whack-a-mole, many of the files pop up again within days. The reason I spend five hours a week on this is to break links and disconnect connections. Blogs and websites that share illegal links are one of the ways people find illegal music. If we take down the file, we create a dead link. A small step.

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (learn yourself at Wikipedia) was designed for this purpose. The act passed in 1998, a naive era before illegal sites like these existed. DMCA is based on the premise that an illegal file must've got up there by accident. Sites can host illegal files as long as they take them down when the rights holder catches them and complains. Fucked up, but it's all we got.

Ok, here's how to do it: (1) find illegal content (2) file a "Takedown Notice" (3) the site takes the file down.

I recommend you make this part of your weekly schedule:

(1) find illegal content (ie: log onto the internet)
This part (unfortunately) is way too easy.
a) FilesTube is a search engine that looks into the "locker" file-sharing sites (Click here to see a list of thousands of Led Zeppelin files up illegally). Use Filestube to search on your band name.
b) On the right under each illegal file is the word "Download" -- click on that.
(If the link is dead, when you get to the next page Filestube lets you know. Don't report that one)
c) Midway down the page is a white box with "Direct Links" above it.
On the lower right is a button, "Copy to Clipboard" -- click that. It copies all the links.
d) Open an email message and paste the links in there.
e) Click back one page and do the same for the next entry (putting all the links into one email).

f) There are other sites you should use as well, such as Filetram, Rapidsharemix etc.
g) Also, set up a Google Alert with your band name and your most recent album's name. Google will let you know when the next illegal file is up. To keep from driving yourself crazy, set it to alert you once a day, rather than every time it finds one. This will also help find the one legitimate review or playlist that you missed! : )

(2) file a "Takedown Notice" (ie: report it to the site)
Now you have an email filled with links to files of illegal uploads of your music. Each site has a convoluted and hidden instruction page detailing how to file a complaint. Some (like megaupload, rip) claim you can only file a Takedown Notice (ie: DMCA abuse complaint) via a form on their website. IGNORE THOSE INSTRUCTIONS! What I discovered is they will take it down with a simple email. They take down ANYTHING that gets a complaint (for fun, take down a page of Skinny Puppy or Rozz Williams albums. Consider it good karma). I send in ONE EMAIL with all the illegal files' links to ALL the sites (I no longer waste my time on separate emails to each site. Send all of them all of the links, make them do the work of sorting out which is theirs).

In your email, include a statement such as this:

Under the penalty of perjury, I am the owner of the copyrighted work listed below. I ask for the immediate removal of all of these files from your site. These are Illegal infringements, uploaded without my permission. Please remove them and email a confirmation Your name / band / business name Your address Your phone number (not required) Your email

Here are the email addresses I send to: abuse@4shared.com, abuse@depositfiles.com, abuse@easy-share.com, abuse@filefactory.com, dmca@filejungle.com, dmca@filesonic.com, dmca@fileserve.com, abuse@hotfile.com, abuse@letitbit.net, abuse@mediafire.com, abuse@megashares.com, abuse@multiupload.com, abuse@oron.com, abuse@rapidshare.com, abuse@ultrafiles.com, abuse@uploaded.to, abuse@uploading.com, abuse@uploadhere.com abuse@uploadking.com, dmca@uploadstation.com, dmca@wupload.com

(3) they take it down (ie: it'll be back up shortly...)
Your file will be gone within 24 hours. If not, file the complaint again with your next batch of illegal files. Because yes, you will be doing this same thing next week. And the next week. And the next week.... it's a never-ending process. The DMCA puts the burden on you. Thanks, Mr Senator.