p2p news / p2pnet: Ten Mile Tide, which used to call itself the “unofficial poster band for the p2p file-sharing program Kazaa” and which has so far clocked up 10 million downloads through it, has publicly severed all its associations with both the application and its owner, Sharman Networks.

And to emphasise the breakdown in the relationship, it’s making the tracks from its albums available as free mp3 downloads.

It’s, “publicly denouncing the lawsuit filed by Nikki Hemming and Sharman Networks against p2pnet.net,” states spokesman Jason Munning.

Hemming and Sharman are suing p2pnet for alleged libel, saying I defamed them in a post outlining Australian court proceedings into Hemming’s assets. And they’re demanding that I hand over the identity of a p2pnet reader who posted an anonymous comment which I included in a story.

But as I say in the Stop-the-Blogsuit Campaign, “as far as I’m concerned, an anonymous post is the same as a confidential source. I don’t have to like a post, or even agree with it. But I believe that as an honest and responsible human being, I do have to safeguard the poster, if indeed I know who he or she is which in this case, I don’t.”

If Sharman and Hemming get away with it, bloggers across Canada will potentially find themselves in the same boat as p2pnet, and the case will also be used as a reference for similar persecutions around the world.”

That’s why I’m defending it in a precedent-setting case that’ll probably be the first in which a peer-to-peer site asks a jury of peers to make sure the principle of free speech is upheld in Canada.

Last month, Ten Mile Tide released the tracks from one album to protest the continuance of the RIAA’s sue ‘em all marketing campaign, meant to frighten Warner Music, EMI, Vivendi Universal and Sony BMG customers into buying the labels’ over-priced, low quality downloads.

Now, the band has posted all of their songs on their web site, “in a protest of the lawsuit-dominated music industry.”

Three years ago, executives from Sharman Networks asked Ten Mile Tide, an independent San Francisco band, to work with them in a publicity campaign and, “To this day, Ten Mile Tide is the most downloaded independent band on Kazaa,” it says in a statement.

For several years, Ten Mile Tide was featured in Kazaa ads and the company assisted with tour publicity for one of the band`s nationwide tours and, “Throughout this time, Ten Mile Tide has been an avid supporter of Kazaa and has publicly voiced their indignation with the RIAA lawsuits against users of Kazaa,” it says.

The five-piece group, which started life at Stanford University and which says it’s “feel-good acoustic rock, foot-stomping folk, and beer-drenched bluegrass,” condemns the recent libel lawsuit Nikki Hemming and Sharman Networks filed against p2pnet.net and states, “as a result no longer choose to associate themselves with Kazaa”.

The, “new culture of lawsuits in music is disgusting,” says Munning. “The RIAA started this sue-your-(helpless)-friends public relations campaign three years ago when it sued individual music lovers and now Nikki Hemming is continuing it.

“We don’t want to be a part of an industry that operates on brute force and unethical lawsuits.”

Thanks a lot, guys. Your support is very much appreciated. Cheers!

Please help me to beat the Sharman Networks, Nikki Hemming lawsuit. Make a donation. It doesn’t matter how little – it’ll all help. Just click the button. Thanks.

If you don’t like PayPal, here’s an address:

Jon Newton
PO Box 1532, Lake Cowichan
British Columbia V0R 2G0

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Also See:
upheld in Canada – p2pnet Freedom of Speech concert, June 7, 2006
protest the continuance – Band’s RIAA celebration, May 18, 2006

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