Comments on: Dependent Records: The Story Behind the Hoax

By: Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten

Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 16:38:23 +0000

Telephone? You must be kidding! I remember we had one of those when I was a kid. Do they still sell those? ;-)

By: Stefan Herwig

Stefan Herwig — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 16:27:45 +0000

Hi Boris,

thanks for the explanation. I understand that you alawysw try to have the coverage of your content to be released as quick as possible.
But for instance you ciould have written (in our case as example), that the official website of the label did awkwardly not mention anything about this amazing download option, and that noone at the label was available to confirm that the TPB offer was legit.

I think one should allow a business day for reaction time by e-mail. And should you need a really urgent feedback about a specific info, there is this forgotten medium called “telephone” that you can use that enables people to exchange verbal information in real time speed. Quite an amazing yet apparently forgotten invention. ;-)

Stefan

By: Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten

Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 12:23:28 +0000

Hi Stefan, I would love to only blog about confirmed stuff. But even companies that are very responsive often take 12 hours, at least, to answer. We email several companies a day asking for comments on articles or confirmation of rumors and news. Most companies simply ignore questions, or deny everything or answer with a standard press release.

With this article I did spent some time checking if it could be true. I checked if the music was there, if the account existed and the name matched, if other blogs had written about it, if there was an official comment from you somewhere and if there were signs in the comments that this might be false. based on that research (about 15 minutes) I decided to publish.

I think bloggin ONLY confirmed stories is impossible in reality. What we CAN do is make it more clear to readers that stories ARE or ARE NOT confirmed. That would be a practical solution that everybody can work with right away.

By: Stefan Herwig

Stefan Herwig — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 11:56:45 +0000

“Most bloggers (us included) have a “It is better to seek forgiveness than permission” attitude towards blogging. This makes the medium exciting but also dangerous. We will have to find a modus where we can keep the excitement but do it in a less dangerous way.”

Seriously. I think that a minimum amount of research should be enacted for bloggers as well. Doublecheck stories on each website (5 mins work), or try to reconfirm the truthfulness of a doubtful story with the person/company/website you got it from (10 mins. work).

If that is too much work for you, you should probably reconsider your “hobby”. Just my humble opinion.

By: Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten

Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 22:53:00 +0000

@Stefan: good question! To tell you the truth I do think events like this make you more cautious. I made my point before that we do check our stories but obviously not as strict as newspapers do or we could have in this case.

Next time I will be more careful and if there is doubt or I can’t verify it myself (or don’t have the time) I will use a different story line or at least make it clear that the story might be false and is unverified.

Most bloggers (us included) have a “It is better to seek forgiveness than permission” attitude towards blogging. This makes the medium exciting but also dangerous. We will have to find a modus where we can keep the excitement but do it in a less dangerous way.

By: Stefan Herwig

Stefan Herwig — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 22:22:41 +0000

I just read the story.

Thanks for the coverage, and I think you did a good job with trying to picture the situation as neutral as possible.

Just out of curiosity: Has this whole incident changed your m.o. in regards to just “taking over” news from other websites and blogs?

Stefan Herwig
(evil yet unsuccessful record company owner)

By: bleu

bleu — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 09:59:30 +0000

All still smells of propaganda. He (Stefan Herwig) has been courting attention and there is more to this story than he is saying. These are the questions I would have asked:
Tell me about Dependant, how many staff did you employ, what was your yearly turnover, what was your advertising budget, how long had you been in business, how many artists had signed to your label, how many had you made famous, do you have any disclosures you would like to make at this point in time, please provide the rough details of all the court cases you have been involved with in the last 12 months, what is you next venture.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 16:42:33 +0000

65 % of his catalouge? I checked this back and it seems to be more. 80 % at least and the missing albums are mostly samplers, wich tracks are contained in the regular albums, too.

And why does Stefan Herwig not mention that he is suing filesharers since months?

By: Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten

Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 16:15:50 +0000

@gweeter dependent IS going out of business as you can read on their website. I don’t see any benefit in getting PR for them. Unless they decide NOT to close down. Either way, it IS an interesting story.

By: gweeter

gweeter — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 16:01:09 +0000

viral marketing by a relatively unknown record label.
nobody else will understand how the free press can be manipulated. who had heard of dependent records before last week?
crock of bullshit. entire catalog downloaded per record label’s request.