I ain't gonna say I told you so, but I did though. I've been seeing the signs. The industry is broken. Broken to the point where the labels have decided to go against the websites that actually promote their artists. Basically all this action really means is that if you don't conform with the labels (push their artists) they will shut you down. The little sites have no chance because they will have to ask for permission to post anything, and you know if your site isn't a top tier site, you're getting denied access. Yes sykoticfiles is in peril too, because it is not sponsored by any major label. If you think this is just all about piracy, you're wrong. It's about control.
It's over people.
Sponsored rappers like Kreyshawn will be big because her label will push her on sites and the kids (the gullible demographic they target) will think the populous approves of her music because of the website access she will have. The rappers doing grass-root promotion will have no forum. Any type of control we had is gone. Many of us wasted this opportunity by commenting with ridiculous rhetoric and not purchasing albums. Remember I told y'all a while back that the labels would blame us for their misfortune of jumping on the MP3 bandwagon without providing a digital format for retail.
It was a fun ride while it lasted, but it's over. Don't think that if you post a mixtape with industry beats that you won't get a cease and desist, because that's next. No more people. And again, the people that could use the push to get maximum exposure on the internet will not get it, because the labels will have the popular websites in their pockets.
One can try to be optimistic, but I see the sign, and it says stop.