Campaigns involving music tend to gain a lot of traction quickly, such as the attempt to boost Rage Against the Machine's 'Killing in the Name Of' into the charts during the 2009 series of The X-Factor in the UK, which did actually succeed. Now, the same goal is being repeated by a different group of people. While the Rage Against the Machine campaign came from those who were tired of The X-Factor, the new campaign is coming from the pirate community.
Pirates flocked to download UK rapper Dan Bull's track 'Sharing is Caring', with the song having appeared in a variety of different daily download lists. Should it work out, the song could be in the charts this weekend, giving Dan Bull his first ever chart success. Since the song is titled 'Sharing is Caring', music executives likely won't be too pleased to see it hitting any success. That's exactly the point, as Torrent Freak points out. Dan Bull is notable as a rapper, having covered more 'nerdy' topics, such as The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, but he does not receive any aid from a record label. We'd also like to thank Neowinian seanseany for tipping us to this news.
Bull has admitted in the past he has relied on piracy to hear music for himself, and relies on a crowd of like-minded people to earn money from his music. Bull's music has all been shared publicly for free via his YouTube channel, which has worked so far. Now he wants to hit the charts to make a statement about the state of the music industry. Last Sunday, Bull shared his plan with Torrent Freak, whose users quickly bought into the song in order to boost its position. There are ten different versions of the track that Bull released, since all of the versions will be merged together in order to give the chart ratings. Bull explained the following:
"The singles charts are worthless as an indicator of quality, and artists needn’t strive for the validation of reaching them. However, by taking a free song by an unsigned artist to the echelons normally reserved for the industry elite, I want to smash the glass ceiling and show that there is another way of doing things. We don’t need the protection of ACTA, CISPA or any other acronym. As long as our internet is free, creativity will thrive.”
You can share your support through the link in the description of this official video, or even just check the song out. Be aware though, that it contains some expletives and could reduce your chances of a promotion slightly.
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