http://timbalandtempest.ytmnd.com/

My view is that piracy did not kill the C64 et al back then, Commodore itself had a better hand in that. In fact, there are a lot of games I played that I could not just pick up at my local shop. (Giana Sisters was great!)

Things are a bit different these days. I do not believe that piracy will kill any well-established industry, and I do not believe that the industry really things so, either. In a lot of cases, like back in the day when we had swap parties and traded tapes of music at the skating rink, piracy helps exposure. Even so, ripping XBox and PS2 games, and copying CDs take away from the compensation of the artist, board runners, producers, and the poor troll stuck getting these guys coffee, coke, and hookers.

And that is where it all falls: the unquestionable talent of those who truly create. Think about Tempest and GRG — lowly, unsigned, talented trackers unknown in mainstream popularity. How many people dream of the “accidental discovery.” I know as a hobbyist actor I kind-of hope that one day someone will see me and say “Hey! I want that guy in my movie!” (I will even settle for a commercial!) So Tempest creates a piece of original track work, and maybe one day someone like Timbaland comes along as says “Yo, dawg, yo shit is tight! I wanna take this to the top with some phat beats and vocals. What you say?”

Instead, he just flat-out steals it. He did not even bother to kiss them or leave a couple of bucks on the dresser. How is that for the “American Dream”? Used to be we earned our way and gave credit where credit is due. Now we just steal it: every man for himself.

Sheesh.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4KX7SkDe4Q
and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wV2fTEeP6GM

Enjoy.

Another thing… There has always been a separate demoscene and cracker scene. In the early 90’s there might have been a very large overlap between those, but even then I remember that some demo coders, musicians and GFX artists despised the cracker scene.

Today, it seems to me that the demoscene and the cracker scene are quite separated. I haven’t been observing it as closely since late 90’s though.

And one more thing… Even if timbaland never sampled the original, he still used the same chord progression and melody. If they where some kind of typical things (like 12 bar blues or some typical 3 or four chord pop thing) it would not be that big deal. However… That chord progression uses six different chords (and some of those are somewhat atypical in themselves) and a very easily recognizeable melody. Both of those match 100% in those songs.

The modern demoscene has some roots in the “cracktro” area – but the activity is 99 44/100ths unrelated. Your standard demoscener makes music/animations/pixelized graphics/realtime movies for FUN, not ‘to place in front of a cracked game.’

The ONLY reason I bring this up is to prevent someone from coming along and assuming that Tempest is ‘getting what he deserves’ because “he is just a criminal, ripping off other people’s work.” That’s not the case, at all. The modern demoscene has as much to do with cracking as Hong Kong, the city, does. Yes, you can find crackers in both. But being a citizen of Hong Kong does NOT make you a criminal, and neither does being a demoscener.

Ok, distinction possibly unblurred, possibly made worse, if nothing else, probably gave someone the impression demosceners are a bunch of anal twatters who can’t handle someone making a simple mistake about their history. (Again, I’d let it go, but the whole “ZOMG PIRATE GETS WHAT HE DESERVES LOLLERCOPTERZ HEY FRIEND ME” thing is screaming for smackage.

Correction – it used to be like that in the 80’s. Nowadays “video and music” produced in the demoscene is a standalone piece of art, free from any sort of illegal activity. You can see quite some examples at http://www.pouet.net