Wow. We never expected this kind of response to our posting. The comments have been very encouraging. A couple have been angry, calling us "stupid" for considering stopping the show. But overwhelmingly we received a lot of email from people freaked out. We never had any idea that the show meant that much. One email came in to say

I work a c*%t job as a paver/concretor and the only thing that gets me through the day is hours upon hours of The Lazlow Show I have on my iPod.

Last year, when we were in the thick of GTA4 production, shows were few and far between. Currently it's a hobby that we all do as a laugh. However we would be lying if we said that the piracy of the box set doesn't affect us financially. Thus the post below. I'm not saying we are going to definitely stop doing the show - I'm just saying it's in consideration if the torrent trend continues. We'll obviously discuss it on the next show.

And just to clarify - i have no issue with people copying the show. I buy albums on itunes all the time and make a cd copy to turn someone else on to a band. Someone buying the box set and making a physical copy for a friend isn't an issue with us either - you're turning a friend on to something you like. What we have issue with is bittorrent. And asshats like The Pirate Bay - who get all kinds of glee stealing your work and posting it online for all of creation to take. And their contact page indicates you shouldn't even waste your time contacting them to have copyrighted content taken down. They should be firebombed and their mothers ravaged by a prison gang.

But this just cheered me up immensely:

Carl Lundström, one of four men awaiting trial for involvement with file sharing site The Pirate Bay, is among a dozen Swedes at the heart of a tax authorities investigation into funds stashed in a bank trust in Lilliput tax haven Liechtenstein.The Swedish Tax Agency Skatteverket investigation into Swedes with fortunes hidden in a bank in Liechtenstein began in the spring and has so far uncovered hidden sums running into hundreds of millions of kronor and involving up to 40 people, reports Dagens Industri.

Lundström is the most well-known name on the list and is also due to stand trial for copyright infringement in the new year for his alleged financial support of file sharing site The Pirate Bay.

So maybe their is some justice in the world. Thanks to everyone for all the great emails and support. We'll see you Saturday.

posted by lazlow at 3:25 PM  on Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Something has changed in the culture on planet Earth in the last 15 years. Suddenly, with everyone connected, a mob hysteria has taken over, and the people have scaled the walls of content providers and set fire and looted an entire economic model. In some cases it's good. In other cases it's very very bad. We're talking entertainment here - not exactly a required element for human existence. TV - radio - movies - video games - newspapers - they are all luxuries, and luxuries that many now believe are necessity and should be free. The change has affected many entertainment providers, who create art, but also create that art to support themselves and that others may enjoy it and pay for the privilege. Record companies are crumbling as the revenue model changes from the album to the per-song-download and nearly every album gets leaked before it even hits shelves. Movies in theaters hit download sites the day they come out. Often before. PC games are pirated on such an astronomical scale that many companies don't bother with non-console games anymore. A blog posting is reposted the world over in minutes. A woman in her living room singing is seen by millions on Youtube. The positive is that the unheard has a forum to be heard by millions. The negative is that millions can take without giving.

This dramatic shift in mentality is affecting every sector of news and entertainment. The New Yorker's James Surowiecki put it very well this month in News You Can Lose when he says

"The peculiar fact about the current crisis is that even as big papers have become less profitable they've arguably become more popular....
The real problem for newspapers, in other words, isn't the Internet; it's us. We want access to everything, we want it now, and we want it for free. That's a consumer's dream, but eventually it's going to collide with reality: if newspapers' profits vanish, so will their product."

Which is the same situation we find The Lazlow Show in. It has grown in popularity. We have fans all over the world. And we love doing it. Plus the box set sales keep the show going, pay for transportation and food for the show and give Wayne, Reed and I a little extra money at the end of the month. We always post the entire show on the website for people to download for free. When we do a new show, we take the old one down and post the new one. However, a couple of kind souls, showing what big fans they are, have purchased our box set and posted the entire thing on all the torrent sites. Every show we've ever done. It's one thing for fans to record shows and post them for other people. Buying the box set and then letting everyone in creation steal it is another. In fact one fan named mothergoose56 posted the entire box set on Christmas Day as a nice big fat present to the show.

And box set sales have dropped to zero.

I have been mulling this over in the last few weeks as the effects of torrents of the box set have taken hold, and as Surowiecki put it - if the show's profits vanish, so will the product.

The show this coming Saturday could very well be our last for a long time. Wayne is unemployed and working desperately on small jobs to stay afloat. I'm working nights and weekends on a couple of projects and could be focusing on that. Thanks to all the real fans who have supported over the years. I'm sure we'll debate this very subject on the next show, deciding whether it will be our last. See you Saturday night.

posted by lazlow at 12:48 PM  on Sunday, December 28, 2008

posted by lazlow at 3:55 PM  on Friday, December 12, 2008

it's coming.

January 3rd.

Wayne and Lazlow will be fresh back from Jamaica with plenty of tales to tell.

Reed will most likely be back from a mancation with his entourage of strange single men.

Tune in.....

posted by lazlow at 3:38 PM

Episode 37 of The Lazlow Show will be this Saturday December 6th at XM 202 and Sirius 197. Show begins at 9pm eastern. We may call it the Donuts Cigarettes and Taxes episode after this amazing sign i took a picture of last weekend in Oklahoma City.

posted by lazlow at 10:32 AM  on Wednesday, December 3, 2008