First Fallen Star Does Not Endorse Piracy

First Fallen Star will combat piracy! We will actively ensure that file sharing sites are not hosting pirated FFS releases, contact email and internet service providers regarding piracy abuses, and take other measures to seek out individuals who undermine and hurt the artists and the industry. If you see our releases pirated on the internet, please email us, including a link to the site offering or hosting the pirated music and a list of all links to files as hosted by the particular file sharing site.

Artists and other record labels looking for helpful, detailed information on grappling with illegal downloads and file sharing are encouraged to contact us. Anyone looking to exercise a failed college degree in philosophy by trolling and starting an argument, be damned.

1 . 11 . 2010: In the middle of December, Innfallen's album was virally bootlegged around the world. In keeping our word to our artists, we aggressively fought back and were extremely successful in having the illegal files removed from almost all of the file sharing sites hosting the files at the time, as well as in having bootlegging posts removed from forums and entries removed from blogs. (Those that remain are dead links.) We were even succesful in getting the album removed from one of the many Russian MP3 sale sites. (Russian copyright laws do not even recognize digital media at all, which has allowed the country to literally foster every form of digital piracy. Despite claims that, in accordance with Russian laws, the sales of MP3s from various sites is legal so long as the companies pay royalties to a Russian organization that collects those royalties and pays artists, artists and record labels around the world have NOT received any form of compensation. Those Russian MP3 sites are not actually legal, and the artists are not being paid any royalties, so do not be consoled by the false claim that they are legal.) ... The argument over the legality of music downloading will wage on forever, as will bootlegging itself. Of that much, we are certain. No amount of debate or clever logic will wish away the fact that the rights to music belong to the artist and to whomever they grant extended rights (copyright, publishing, distribution, etc.). To claim otherwise is not to play the absurdly unnecessary role of Devil's advocate, but rather to engage in total idiocy. Equally idiotic would it be for us to claim that we can stop every individual person from bootlegging, sharing, or downloading our artists' albums. We will fight back nonetheless. For the small minority of people whose claims of a personal inability to afford music are legitimate, we offer an alternative. If you truly cannot afford to purchase an album, and have downloaded it illegally (whether for free or not), contact the artist and make arrangements to send them compensation, even if it is a small amount of money. We're asking you to compensate the artist - not necessarily the record label. The artists deserve that much. You're free to disagree, but you're not free to undermine the rights of the artists.