Hacking My Site

Don't worry JC, some of us don't mind helping you pay the bills! When are you coming back to Atlanta, I have about 20 friends waiting to see you live after I told them how awesome the show at the Five Spot was!

I think you have enough fans that are smart enough to throw money at you for being so awesome. Also, I laughed at "First!"

Bless you, Jonathan Coulton.

You get it. And it's refreshing.

The people who do buy, buy because they value your music. Keep it coming.

It's ironic that he picked a site that gives the music away for free to demonstrate how he can get all the music for free. I hope he at least gives you a couple bucks. And if he doesn't, I will! I still need a copy of 'Skullcrusher Mountain'.

Your business model FTW! :)

Hahaha, I love that "First!" comment you left.

I suppose his next step is detailing how to steal pretzels from the honor snack box.

Love his YouTube profile:

Interests and Hobbies: My Hobbies Include Copyright Infrigment [sic] And Long Walks On The Beach.

Looks like he failed this time! Muahahahaha!

There's a Firefox plugin?! And I wrote a python script to do that like a freakin' CHODE!

It took me an hour.

Could have done it in 5 minutes in Perl, but I wanted to learn something new.

(And before you haters start in, I did pony up some dough to JC.)

Personally, I think it's brilliant marketing to leave the music out there for free. It seems that JC is leading the industry again. Fans will support artists. Freeloaders aren't a potential market for anything anyway.

I have to admit that when I first came here, I took all your songs for free. He's working way too hard on it. If you view the source, it tells you where the mp3s are located. I also did that at Paul and Storm's site (in their case, it was to play the mp3 in IE, as the play button appears not to work).

I've since bought all your CDs at concert, and I bought every other non-CD track individually. It feels good to be honest!

see, i paid for all your music because i love you dearly, JoCo. hurry back to atlanta on a day when i don't have work so i can actually see you!

Wow, and to think I used wget (before forking over for the flacs).

Zac beat me to it but since when is "view source" considered "hacking".

I agree with the fan support idea.

If I get it for free, it makes me feel more like supporting the artist so that others can get the same quality music for free like I did.

I have to confess I haven't paid for any of the music yet, but I will. Once I get a job...

I think the real question is why AFI is the music for this video.

I'm just upset he didn't at least use a JoCo song for his soundtrack. Seems the least he could do.

Also you don't just entertain America, Jonathan!

Yeah I was wondering why I was able to download new songs free via the RSS feeds, and then see then for a buck on the site. I figured I could get the songs for free if I tried, but I ended up buying a dozen or so anyways.

Always good to support independent artists, especially if you aren't forced to.

I wrote a perl script that pulled the URLs out of the RSS feed, and downloaded the MP3s. I'm a college student, and don't have a lot of extra dough. But, in the first few months of my first "real" job, I promise I will give you money with your "already stole it?" link. BTW, that link is one of the most awesome things ever.

I raise my glass to you, JoCo. Way more classy than I would have been.

Yes, the l33t combination of AFI + Notepad to download music with a freely-available Firefox extension is the sign of a script kiddie job well done. H@X0R bonus points for pwning a page that has a direct link to download over half the songs for free in iTunes.

"Hacking." Psh.

OMG, I totally H@X0Red WordPress by typing H@X0R.

No way, I did it again.

"Nice “hacking,” though in my day we used to call that a “browser plugin.” "

BEST RESPONSE EVER

Just as a curiosity, how does the cover thing work? Do you drop a check in the mail to ASCAP or BMI for the covers, and they write a check once a quarter to Leonard Cohen with "Jonathan Coulton, Tori Amos, Concrete Blonde and Every Time Someone Watched Shrek" in the memo field? I've heard that certain cover-heavy bands (Hayseed Dixie, for instance) make almost nothing from album sales--general music industry crap notwithstanding--because of the sheer amount of royalties involved.

You can watch him make out with himself and otherwise contort his face here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBk42WS9RG8.

You can see that he's pretty young. :)

That is one leet haxxor......

I'm disappointed that he didn't even bother using your music in the video.

At least then it would've been entertaining.

"Just as a curiosity, how does the cover thing work"

My understanding of the U.S. copyright law is that one can freely perform works of music that sound similar to copyrighted works, as long as no portion of the original work is used in the cover. I can't remember off the top of my head which clause states that, but I remember seeing it when I read through the law at one point...

Then again, I'm not a lawyer, and I don't know if that applies to using someone else's lyrics, so I'd probably look into official counsel before going off and covering everything you hear.

When you sell a cover you have to pay royalties to the publisher, which you negotiate directly, or else there's a compulsory license you can pay through a clearinghouse like harryfox. Cover heavy bands probably still do pretty well on album sales, the royalties are not that high. But with radio airplay, the performers receive no royalties, only the songwriters.

I followed thing a week, not from the very start, but a good chunk of it. I knew the songs were there, I already had many of them. I jumped at the chance to see you perform when you came to Dallas, bought a t-shirt, AND the box set (yay for tins.)

Just throwing that out as a counterpoint!

Hellooo.... I'm surprised no one has caught on.

It has less to do with J.COULTON'S music. The 'browser plugin' is a virus and he's using a known-good-popular-interweb-superstar (JoCo) for publicity.

Yeah that guy is kind of a bastard. And I personally cant wait to give you money for the live dvd. w00t! The only time I've wanted to be in San Francisco.

Pfft, I like a song, I pay for it in appreciation. And the fact that you have a wife and baby to take care of makes me want to contribute even more than I otherwise would.
So- when is Lady Amberlins bossa nova going to be ready to add to my iPod?

Well, it's good to know that JoCo's music is so good, people who are too cheap to but it for a DOLLAR would resort to stealing it.

JoCo, this only makes me feel like giving you more money.

This guy certainly went to great lengths to try to feel special, showing on youtube how you can steal something you give away for free! I bet next he'll demonstrate how to hotlink to XKCD comic images...

Must... give... Jonathan... my whole... wa-llet!

JC, as always, a class act. You're right, the script kiddie is just a kid:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBk42WS9RG8

To be mean to him would be tantamount to kicking a puppy.

Maybe I'm stupid, but I paid JoCo for all the music that I already had. I'm looking forward to paying for more as soon as I can. The way I see it, I like it, so if I pay for it, I'll get more. Is that how it works?

im buying your song and cds, and when i have more money tshirts and underwear ,,

wow script kiddies in the zoo, what a noob. Next he'll be able to "hack" youtube and download their videos for free with Firefox plugins or any of a hundred stream stealing sites like keepvid. Seriously is there anybody who really didn't know how to do that ? I bet he didn't know you could also "hack" the lyrics to the songs by highlighting them, pasting into note pad and hitting save.

“Nice “hacking,” though in my day we used to call that a “browser plugin.” ”

BEST RESPONSE EVER

I agree that was hilarious.

Hey JoCo. Just to let you know that I studiously coughed up some moolah for a selection now entitled "Jonathan Coulton: Uber-Megahits". I'll be rockin out to it for the next while and you can rest assured I'll be inflicting it around the social circle. For every twerp like this kid let there be a dozen true believers.

Jonathan, well said. I am guilty of doing this. Not purchasing your music from your site and downloading them myself. I saw the URL of your freely available songs, and thought to myself, "Huh - that's oddly not "secure" - I wonder if the songs that aren't free have similarly apt file names sans security." I was pleasantly delighted.

I think I've started to turn it around for you. I've gone to two shows so far, and if you ever show your pretty, scruffy face in Seattle, mine will be looking back at you, probably laughing its ass off. Not that I have an ass on my face. More of a foot in my mouth.

I've played your more popular songs on road trips with groups of people who ate it up, put it on most mix CDs I send to friends and families, and have at least made 50 or so people proper "fans" who would also go see your shows when they're nearby. You'll probably have one at your SF show. And I wish I could be there too.

Sweet Jesus, you're right - it does work.

The cluelessness boggleth.

lawl when I noticed I could do that (5 seconds after finding you site) I realized that a code monkey wouldn't leave a glaring security hole like that unless he did it on purpose.

lawl "hacking" ¬_¬

you only have to check the page source to find the links anyway ;-(

Wow, I also hacked your site by going to the blog posts and using these crazy tools I like to call "right-click" and "download linked file". Another time I went into iTunes and simply subscribed to the Thing a Week podcast... all the songs just downloaded right to my hard drive!

And then I bought your box set from CD Baby.

--Most of all, keep on hackin’ you adorable script kiddies!

Now I definitely have "Keep on Hackin'" stuck in my head to the tune of the Brady Bunch's "Keep on Dancin'". Thank you, JoCo.

Sheeeit, I did this with bash and wget like a million years ago. I think. Maybe it was a dream, and all these mp3s are actually paid for.

Anyway, I came to a show and bought a shirt and shined your shoes while I was at it, so, like... We're even. Right?

It's funny, i used a piece of software to download all of Jonathan's music for free, back when we were on ThingAWeek song number 4 or so. Then I lost my mind and paid for every mp3 I downloaded. Then I lost my mind again and paid for CD copies of both CDs. Then I went completely mental and paid for the TAW box-set. Then I hit 'certifiable' and drove several hundred miles to see The Bearded One in concert.
I must have been completely crazy, paying money for something I could easily get for free. Hell, you can get -anything- for free if you know what you're doing, why ever pay money for anything ever again? Well, I think Wilford Brimley said it best:
"It's the right thing to do, and a tasty way to do it."

My sixty year old mother steals your music and is a big fan. My mother isn't exactly l337. She calls the explorer browser the big E thing.

I think I have bought every song you have ever posted. Well except Still Alive. I am not finishing portal just so I can hear the song. I have a life you know.. :)

I am currently using my mastery of guilt to get my mother to send you money.

Come to Virgina again, so I can drag my whole family to your concert.

Sigh. It's that "appealing to our better natures" thing. The people determined to steal, will likely find a way. They're not the audience.

Important NEW HACK!!! See and read billions of website for free. type http://google.com in any browser, then type words for the things you want to read. When you hit the button, you will be presented with a list of websites, and you can click any of them to read them for FREE!! Remember, this is completely free. Note: this information is offered for educational purposes only. It is not meant as a tutorial on how to break the law. I am not responsible for any laws broken in your country.

I'd been on the fence awhile about payin' for everything cos I'd just been using this website as a music player. This post got me to buy the full album though. XD

shoot, if the kid thinks this makes him HOTT STUFF, let him think it. maybe it'll stop him huffing glue till he's old enough to realise how clever he wasn't and move on with life.

also, i now demand a song about precocious script-kiddies titled "keep on hackin'".

That was a very charitable response.

It's nice to be able to get music for free, and it's nice to have avenues through which you can pay for it too if you like it. It encourages you to introduce your friends to the artist: "Here is this guy who writes excellent songs about quirky stuff, and he is also a stand-up guy! Go check out his website, go check it out now!"

That's okay. rianthefreak92 just wanted fame for something that was already free to begin with. Unlike this idiot, we actually SUPPORT Jonathan Coulton. rianthefreak92 is obviously not one of those people. He is obviously one of those ilk that thinks everything should be free, no one should pay for it, and he has every right to exploit it. Regardless, rianthefreak92 is a flipping idiot. I wouldn't have even given him the courtesy of calling him a "script kiddy" or a "hacker" because he is none of either. Hopefully he'll get a job bussing the tables of irate customers or cleaning crap off the floors with a mop.

JP- you don't necessarily have to finish Portal to hear "Still Alive" - there are some YouTube videos of the end credits that also have links to the song in the video info (people have successfully ripped it from the game CD, that's how I got it). Or you could just look up JoCo performing it live, I think there's a couple vids of that on the webernets somewheres.

I'd be 'stealing' music too, but we already have most of it on the computer so I don't have to (and I don't know how to, either). If I was over 18 I'd get a paypal and donate like, 100 dollars (really, I would), but I've got a few years to go.

I'd call him some names, but I'm afraid I'm no better. Being 14 years of age, I have no way to buy your music. I actually used this same method (though, I did it one at a time) to get your music, as the torrent I got was missing 75% of your songs. >>

Your dirty thief of a fan,
~Kinguta.

P.S.
I'll promise I'll donate.. eventually D:

I went to your show in Cleveland. last November I think it was and bought all of your CDs, so I think I'm entitled to download things from the site as well.

PS, come back to Cleveland. Please. Soon.

That'll teach you to start a blog thread that is openly critical of the quality of YouTube comments! YouTube shall have its revenge!

That's my conspiracy theory, anyway.

(throws dollar in tip jar out of annoyance with "rian," whose parents apparently are not aware that the letter Y works as a vowel)

When did the video disappear?

Perhaps more importantly, why did it disappear?

I'm assuming he yanked it himself rather than put up with more of our heckling.

Maybe he's decided to do the right thing.

What's really cool about JC's approach is that he's right - it's worked, ne gets money, his name gets known by loads more people and the people who don't pay (and _maybe_ will never pay) are outnumbered by the people that do.

I came, I downloaded, I listened, I came back, I paid, I listened a whole lot more.

I think he closed things down because I agreed with him about calling himself a douchebag on his other video.

Or a darker possibility: he has hacked YouTube.

Yes he found the legendary "remove (embarrassing) video" link.

Indeed a l33t haxorz of the highest quality and skill.

lol @ lolling @ YouTube script kiddies.

Btw, my credit card requires me to make two purchases a month in order to maintain a 0%-for-life offer. I happen to love both your site & songs. As such, JC.com now receives $2/mo from me in return for two songs per month. It might not be much, but I'm happy to make you the beneficiary of this arrangement, instead of buying some useless drek at the local bodega each month.

Um, JP? You know you can buy "Still Alive" as a digital download. In fact, two versions. Both for under $2. I mean, I know it violates the whole every song he's posted thing. But you don't have to play the game. You just need to download it. It's easy.

I mean, it's not as easy as hacking JoCo's site because in order to find the song you actually have to be able to spell.

I guess I'm about 10 years behind the times, using Total Recorder?

"...instead of buying some useless drek at the local bodega each month."

Yes. JC.com is not a bodega, and not a mall. He sells songs for iPods smaller than mine. (...as if there were iPods smaller than mine!) :)

It's FREE!!!!! This man is a legend (Re: Your Brains)! I, for one, will gladly pay good hard cash for an album of his music (when I get paid) EVEN THOUGH I COULD GET IT FOR FREE. It's not just for America, it's for Britain as well. Appreciate. Crap rules but quality and humour sustains. Doesn't make money but it sustains.

I was enjoying the discussion about proper formatting and fonts for a declaration of intent to haXX0r in Notepad that was developing in the comments section before the video got baleeted...

Wow.. so it seems like this is a thread for coming clean.

In that spirit, I have to admit a few things.

1.) At your show in Houston, I heard you talking to some people after the show. I secretly memorized the conversation and posted it on the internets, in violation of Federal Wiretapping laws.

2.) I once hummed one of your songs in public, but changed it slightly so when people asked "Are you humming Jonathan Coulton?" I could throw my head back and laugh maniacally and say "Why no! I am humming a derivative work, and your precious Creative Commons license is powerless to stop me, MRUAHAHAHAHA!"

3.) I once saw two joggers and their dogs collide in the park. I laughed so hard, I spilled my double-shot extra milk no caff non-fat extra hot maciato latte on the side walk, then put the cup in the trash instead of the recycling bin.

God, that feels good to get off my chest.

Darn - I was really hoping he would answer my question about why he wasn't using one of his free 91 songs! Maybe he's editing a version 2.0?

Great comments, everyone - both here and on YouTube!

^_^

I always figured the lack of security was intentional. Really, you should feel honored that some nitwit took the time to write a tutorial on how to "steal" your music, especially when it is a hack that is so simple it could be executed by anyone whose ever pimped their MySpace page.

Consider it fan art.

"This video has been removed by the user."

Z0MG!! teh 1337 H4X0R decided to H4X0R himself!! Now THAT takes some 1337 5K1llz.

And now I have a headache from trying to recall leet-speak.

The video poster probably got railed by actual JC fans and realized he became the most despised person on the Internet.

I just found out last week that Last.fm is paying $0.0005 per play to artists (including JoCo) based on their members' play counts.

Details here: http://blog.last.fm/2008/01/23/free-the-music

I'm really bad at math, but I reckon they already owe $335.80!

Don't worry... next time you're in Baltimore, I'll drag everyone to come see you!

I have stolen all your music. But in return, I told everybody I knew about "Code Monkey" specifically and a few other songs just randomly. And I'm pretty sure at least one of them bought it. Also, I couldn't've afforded to pay you anything at the time I bought it, but I'm pretty sure I contributed later.

Dude, I think I've just talked myself into giving you another 20. Shiiiieeeeet.

Anon does not approve of skiddy mongloids pointing out simplistic exploits.

If this failfag calls himself one of us, he is sadly mistaken. We would never waste our time with someone of such a lower intellect as this AIDS-ridden pedo.

Anonymous does not forgive.
Anonymous does not forget.
We are legion.

"Adorable script kiddies" lol thats golden.

Well. As comment number 80 something, i'll just reiterate and say awesome.

Also, we know your music is free, but we want to pay for it

hmmmmm........his account is closed. Do you think we hurt his feelings?

a long time ago I listen one of your song (code monkey), after that I made the only logical thing to do :

I stole everything (naaah, download it :) ),
listen it,
paid everything (the whole stuff youhou!)
and listen them all again

and tell _Everyone_ to go to jonathancoulton.com ha !

you make some great songs. (ho, and many thanks for the french translated one "re: brains" , funny and catchy. great tunes)

ho and of course, I knew the portal song was by you. it was so.. "hey, It's like Coulton's song !" "-hu.. yes it's by jonathan coulton" " ! "

As I have heretofore acquired your music in digital for either through your website or general internet theft, I'm happy to report that this post has inspired me to buy the Thing A Week boxset, 'cause I like my music in tangible form.

Thanks.

I imagine this episode has done good things for JoCo's tip jar.

I definetley did not do this same exact thing thing! Not me! ok, maybe once. (I plan on paying you in ads and with real money in the future.) Anyway, it seams as if he removed the video. Nice guy.
And one more thing, JC, why give your mp3 name in such plain sight? I would have randomized the names, or at least give each song a password that you send to the buyer with the link. Would of maybe worked better. Then, if someone tried to do this, they'd get a password request, 403, or 404.

It's actually enteraing - i fully admit to having happily picked a few pieces of music up from this site via ye good old "View source" - i fully intended to buy the entire collection as soon as i have a job... and a credit card.

I hate being a student-on-a-gap-year

Hey JC, you ever gonna come to Anderson, SC? I would buy tickets to your show for me and my friends, and I'm sure more people in anderson know who you are other than me and my brother. I'd be glad to help you pay bills or buy food for the fam man!

Send the Doomsday Squad on his ass, JC.

Come to Australia, you beautiful, beautiful bastard. Melbourne, specifically, but anywhere in the country will do.

I'll do anything! I'll even throw rocks at that moron's house.

You can't see the video anymore, but all it takes to "hack a song" is to replace the song name:

http://www.jonathancoulton.com/mp3/song name here.mp3

Hey, JC! Just wanted to make sure you saw that you were name-checked here: http://gigaom.com/2008/01/31/does-portals-success-presage-game-industry-shift/

Awww, JoCo! Razor wit, my friend. Razor wit.

I love your music more than pie.

Expect me to be droppin' some cash on ya in the very near future (as in, two weeks from now, when I get paid). =P

Wow, I must have been the one person on the internet who didn't know how to do that. Now that I've been corrupted with this dark knowledge, I will clearly start robbing liquor stores, selling crack, and running over school kids with my car. Before too long, I will no doubt burn in Hell(and I'll deserve it). Darn you Rian, Darn You to Heck!.

Oh, that's right, I still have those pesky principles. Disregard prior Doomsaying.

Perversely, despite my mother of all people pushing his music on me for I don't know how long, I was actually turned onto him by a band performing a cover of Re: Your Brains, as were at least two others, and I sincerely doubt they delivered a royalty kickback(wait, 6% of nothing, carry the nothing, minus the nothing, is still nothing, so they might have). As they put it "Every decade, a band needs a new zombie song".

I think it's worth noting that some people legitimately can’t afford music, and keeping music out of the hands of people with no money serves no one.

All artists need to do is make it more difficult to get the music free than to pay for it. Then people with more money than time will pay for it and those with more time than money won’t. I’ve been in both categories and I sleep well at night.

Looks like he deleted his account. :-)

http://youtube.com/user/rianthefreak92

I have paid for all of your music (and proud of it!) because I believe that its important to put your money where your mouth is. Living in New Orleans, I see all kinds of struggling musicians and I go to see as many shows as I can, but, I'm inspired by your story and the fact that you're a geek like me. I think you're one of the coolest people alive right now because you followed your dream. I support that. I'm inspired by how brave one has to be to do that. To me, its much more than entertainment, its art in the way that the Mona Lisa is art. Its important to me to support that kind of art. To those that don't pay, they just don't get what a privilege it is to support art that inspires them. It really makes the experience complete. I think its pretty innovative that you have done that without a record contract, through the internet. It makes supporting you even that much more exciting. Thanks a bunch!

Hey,

Its Mardi Gras here and because its wild and wacky and people do things without thinking, I just did a thing with both Amazon and Paypal. I would have just done it through Amazon, but they wouldn't let me do the thing for the number I wanted, How crazy is that? So I made sure the paypal thing worked. They both work! Happy Mardi Gras!

I love how he deleted his entire account. You make little script kiddies delete their YouTube accounts. =') I don't want this to sound like sucking up or anything, but you are my hero.

I would like to say that I did not steal Jonathan's music before buying it. That's not to say I didn't hear his music for free before I bought it. Though, to be fair, he was playing live on a stage at a music performance venue and I happened to be within earshot. Immediately after the show I shelled out the $$ to buy the Thing-a-Week box set. I would have bought Smoking Monkey, too, but it was already sold out at the time. So I waited until the next show and bought it then.

Can't wait to head out to San Francisco for the DVD taping. The minutes just seem like hours...

I did download the Thing a Week mp3's the 'sneaky' way, but figured since I'd picked up an autographed tin at the SF show I was covered morally. I bought the rest of the CD's from the site later. I now gleefully force all my friends to listen to JoCo whenever I get tricked into driving them somewhere.

A couple of them are flying out to see you in SF later this month.

This is much better treatment than I give those affiliated with the RIAA or MPAA.

Im with "Martin Kingsley" come on down to Melbourne but unlike so many of our arty overseas cousins try to make the tickets affordable. As a lover of things outside the square I find it soooo hard to actually meet the people I feel common ground with , generally due to financial rastraints and as most of the people I speak of are in the game due to such annoying worries I find it all the more ironically tedious !
There now Ive said it !

I got, everything p2p, and what I couldn't get that way, I traced back to rss feeds, but in my defense, I'm broke as a joke who has no money. Once i find my millionaire girlfriend, you're getting a big check JoCo. not finnacially big, Ed McMahon comically over sized big.

From now on, anytime I do anything that is legal, encouraged, and generally socially acceptable, I'm calling it hacking. I'm about to hack myself some lunch.

Man, what a prick..I'll bet he's one of those annoying 15 year old wigger script kiddes

"OMGZ I SUCH A 1337 H4X0R!! LOLOLOLOLOLOOOLOLO"--rianthefreak92

Tak a seat, right over there....What are ya doin'?

See, and this is why we give you money :).

Yes - you do make a fair amount of your music freely available, but then we can turn around and buy as we're able to, which rocks! And we turn around and point all of our friends, family, coworkers, acquaintances, and so on and so forth.

Wow, that's complicated.
And I never thought of viewing source.
But... when you click the play button... IE downloads the mp3 to play it, and it sits there in your temporary internet files...

So theres another one.

But yes, its a moot issue considering the music is FREE TO BEGIN WITH

I used Orbit Downloader, although just making a HTML document with a link would have handled it quite fine. One day I'll (hopefully) have a job and be glad to pay for what I downloaded. :)

That sucks... The video got deleted. How do you do it again? ;)

p.s. i have paid for my favorite songs already, and will definitely buy an album if you come to Canada sometime soon. But for now, i have no credit card, and want more of your music.

p.s.s please put your new stuff on iTunes.

If you come to Australia PLEASE COME TO ADELAIDE. I confess that I found you on a podcast and thats how I got some of your stuff :-( But I have to wait four years for a credit card but I will pay you back in 4 years LOL! Oh and by the way I cant find you on iTunes for some reason.

you changed my life, you rule.

you make amazing music please write more songs like future soon (i dunno if i spelled that right) and your brains. your the best artist i have ever heard. and if you get the chance please say hi to the p.c guy for me. keep truckin