Bedazzled!: Weblogs

"Hanszun" Or "The Day I Ruined Sharity For Everyone"

A little over a year ago I did this post about this blog I had come across by a guy named Hanszun that I was surprised to see was giving away lots of complete, in-print CDs (including box sets), instead of the ultra-rare out-of-print stuff usually made available by most "sharity" sites. I said that "Blogs like this Hanszunblog (not to pick on him- I'm sure there are hundreds more) are going to be the death of music blogs and are going to bring the wrath of the RIAA down on ALL of us". This led to a bit of a flame-war in my comments which I finally shut down when some guy threatened to contact Arthur Lee who he had "had some correspondence with a bit in the past, and have his email address" to report me for posting some Love videos because I had "pushed a good friend of mine just a little too far."

I forgot all about it for the most part, except when Hans sent me some nasty emails and created a parody site of Bedazzled! called "Badazzled" because someone had a created a very insulting (and freaking hilarious, I might add) parody site about him called something like "The Commuzunist" (which doesn't seem to be up anymore), and he assumed I had done it. I guess I managed to convince him that it wasn't done by me, because he took it down within a few days.

I hadn't thought about the whole brouhaha in a while till the other day when I was searching my own name on google and come across this anti-Hanszun post titled "Hanzun Has Left The Building" with many, many comments (some pro but mostly con) and this incredibly elaborate anti-Hanszun site called HANSZUN HANS DE VENTE : FACTS, which features this legend:

"This site is the result of many forum owners, bloggers and forum members who have joined together to e-mail information, affirm facts, find screen captures where available, and document "Hanszun" Hans De Vente and his various self-proclaimed identities as THE ZUN, THE BLOGFATHER and THE MOST HATED MAN ON THE INTERNET.

On these pages you will find actual screen captures that prove just what "Hanszun" is all about. For over a year he has been an embarrassment to the blogging community, an Internet terrorist, a liar, con-artist and "The Deleter." Most of all, he's proven to be what he set out to be, a fired Sony employee out to revenge his hatred on the music industry by stealing, copyright infringement and piracy.

Unlike his hated "rivals" like Zinhof, HANSZUN deletes files, posts sexist and racist rants, throws whole boxed sets on his blog a dozen at a time and conducts hate and harassment campaigns against his "enemies."

Screen captures document some of the twisted childhood and marital problems that turned De Vente into the blog world's Mark David Chapman. In his own words you'll read his anti-social, twisted way of thinking.

Other pages document his terror campaigns against other bloggers, and the massive amount of piracy that should make him the poster boy for Anti-Musician Hate Crimes. He is STILL on the Net, stealing music, using disguised names."

It's just page after page of facts, accusations and screen shots, somebody sure put a lot of time into it. Anyway, I guess this guy pissed a lot of people off much more than he did me...but I sorta guess I got the whole ball rolling. So, sorry If I ruined Sharity for everybody, I'll be more careful in the future. Link. See Also: The Real Story Of Hans, HANSZUN-SHUN

Posted by Cookie on March 17, 2007 in Bedazzled!, Music, Weblogs | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBack (0)

MP3 "Sharing" Sites Updated

The RecordBrother was telling me about this phenomenon the other day and I didn't really know what he was talking about, as I don't look at mp3 sharing sites that much lately. But it seems like there's this whole new breed of "Sharing" site that instead of sharing unavailable, never-been-on-cd type rarities, are just putting up entire cd's of commercially available music.

I just clicked through from Sonic Pollutions to this site Hanszunblog that's at least 80% (if not 100%) commercially available cd's that he's putting up for download. Like, entire Burt Bacharach Box Sets on Rhino! Whole Dusty Springfield cds.

How is this cool? I mean, I'm as anti DRM as the next guy. I don't think that ALL music needs to be paid for EVERY time it's listened to by everybody. I remember mixed tapes and all that. I've shared MP3's with friends of mine. But just giving away entire box sets on the internet? Rhino Records (who put out the Bacharach box) is an awesome label that puts out amazing rare stuff that otherwise no one would ever hear or see. Why fuck them over? Or Burt Bacharach and Hal David for that matter?

On this blog I've almost only ever put up MP3's of things that aren't commercially available (outtakes, rarities, deletions, radio commercials). The few times I've put up things from in-print cd's I only put up one song and I've always provided a link to buy products by that artist. I did it to promote the artist.

Blogs like this Hanszunblog (not to pick on him- I'm sure there are hundreds more) are going to be the death of music blogs and are going to bring the wrath of the RIAA down on ALL of us. I mean, you realize they sue 12 year old girls and disabled moms (even dead old ladies) over this stuff right? Do you really think they're never gonna crack down on bloggers? This is a hundred times worse than P2P sharing. Hanzun says "i love music, all kinds of music, I JUST LOVE MUSIC !!!". Too bad he doesn't love the musicians, songwriters and producers who made it (or their descendants) enough to care about them being compensated. I'm sure (I hope) he's a nice guy and I hope he (and the rest of the "New Breed") reconsider this new style of "sharing".

UPDATE: you can read this guys reply here. He's at least semi-full of shit, because the Mama's and Papa's Box and the Burt Bacharach box are still very much in print and available on Amazon (as are many of the other things on his site-I'll start cataloging it for him). Of course people LOVE your site. With those two box sets you are basically GIVING them stuff that would cost $120 if you bought 'em. I'm sure my traffic would increase if I paid everybody who comes here $120.

And I'm sure all of these "forgotten artists" he is promoting are psyched. I mean who heard of Hank Williams, Dusty Springfield, The Mama's & The Papa's, John Fogerty, & The Shangrilas before Hanzun "rediscovered" them? Thank you for rescuing them from utter obscurity. I mean Hank Williams, who the fuck is he? You are so cool for knowing about and promoting this ultra obscure artist. Dude, you are really doing a serious public service. I don't know what I was thinking when I criticised you. Carry on as you were.

Also I didn't accuse you of "single handedly ruining the record business". What I said is that people LIKE YOU were "going to be the death of MUSIC BLOGS and are going to bring the wrath of the RIAA down on ALL of us.". Kinda different don't you think? Why do you need to make up what I said to make your point seem more valid? I also said "not to pick on him- I'm sure there are hundreds more". So every part of the "quote" you attributed to me is basically a lie. Come up with better arguments if you wanna feel better about yourself and your blog, don't attribute stuff to me that I didn't say just so you can knock it down. Giving away shit that doesn't belong to you that is currently available for purchase just does not make you or your site that special. Sorry.

I'm not an absolutist about this as you can see by the stuff I post. I have bought, traded for and sold things that are considered "gray area" and aren't now or have never ever been commercially available. But what you are doing is crossing the line. If you took down all things that are currently commercially available on CD I would have no problem with your site.

All that Hank Williams stuff you're posting now is out too, by the way: The Complete Hank Williams
Took me seconds to figure that out. When I get a few minutes I'll go through your site and source out everything that's still available. Just so you can't pretend you didn't know.

UPDATE: One of my fans left this in the comments:

"Well, I've had some correspondence with Arthur Lee a bit in the past, and have his email address. We'll put your theory to the test and see if artists who's videos are not available mind if you distribute their work with no payout to them. I'm sure you'll here (sic) from somebody.

You pushed a good friend of mine just a little too far."

Ouch. WIth that I think I'll close the comments. I don't really have the time for this. These people are touchier than Republicans.

Posted by Cookie on January 23, 2006 in Music, Weblogs | Permalink | Comments (22) | TrackBack (0)