Arrr matey! The Pirate Bay brings us news of a new free advertising service called The Promo Bay to help promote independent artists! Unlike major labels and their cadre of big name content creators (a.k.a. land lubbers), many out there in the vast ocean of artists are more concerned with getting their output to the people than they are with having their output stolen or pirated. Many would say that if their work was in such high demand that it warranted pirating, they’d probably be doing a pretty good job of creating other streams of revenue.
In the spirit of Google’s homepage ‘doodles,’ The Pirate Bay has begun allowing artists of all stripes the chance to apply to have their ‘doodle’ replace the usually omnipresent Pirate Bay icon for a day. Artists must provide a link where users can download or stream content for free (movies, music, manifestoes, etc.), the aforementioned doodle, and a list of three countries where they’d like to have the doodle featured. The aim is to expose users to new content and promote cross-cultural exchange at no cost to artists as long as they’re making something available to users for free.
The Pirate Bay has come under attack from major labels who see the torrent service as a haven for illegal downloading, and this move is yet another step in the right direction for legitimizing what this and other sites do for internet users (and what bills like PIPA/SOPA are trying to keep offline). By creating a community of content creators who openly support the free distribution of their work as a means of exposure that will lead to people buying concert tickets and other merchandise, it increases the acceptance of such practices (as will the blackout that took place on Wednesday across a huge range of media sites, including TMT, in solidarity against such censorship legislation). A few big name artists, including Nine Inch Nails and Radiohead, have already openly supported The Pirate Bay by making some or all of their work available for download on the site — hopefully this promotion will help create some of the next big names in music and film, further placing the focus on the quality of the product instead of the quality of the marketing plan.
• The Promo Bay: http://thepiratebay.org/promo