Next time you’re DJing or playing tunes at a party, you know you’ll want this in your arsenal. It’s an audio rip of the Youtube video with the intro included. You’re welcome. The video that started it all off after the jump.
MP3: Crystal Swing – He Drinks Tequila (rip)
Song removed because I’d like to move on with posting music I actually enjoy. It was a silly post that got out of hand. I want this blog to be about positivity and this is not that.
Niall Byrne is the founder of the most-influential Irish music site Nialler9, where he has been writing about music since 2005 . He is the co-host of the Nialler9 Podcast and has written for the Irish Times, Irish Independent, Cara Magazine, Sunday Times, Totally Dublin, Red Bull and more. Niall is a DJ, founder of Lumo Club, club promoter, event curator and producer of gigs, listening parties & events in Dublin.
This is Ireland’s answer to chocolate rain, we could be looking at 10 million hits here, hard to tear the eyes away from the video but my ears were crying..
I now want either kill myself, or others. I havent decided yet.
At least we know who to send in first if we ever decide to invade another country!!
For Eurovision ?
When I was much younger I used to work in a bar/truckstop that had live Irish Country/Showband type stuff at the weekends. I did not like the job or the music so thankfully I was only there for a year.
However, I noticed a few things while I was there..
1)The musicans were into what they we playing and it made them happy
2)There was always a big crowd in and it seemed to make them happy too.
Basicly, the point I’m trying to make is, leave them at it, they’re only doing there thing!
Niall, it is grossly irresponsible of you to post an mp3 of this group’s material to your blog without the permission of the copyright holder. It is blatant copyright infringement and as a respected music blogger you should know better. I’d like to see this post edited as soon as possible to show the respect all recording artists at any level deserve.
“Grossy irresponsible”?Nothing like a ridiculous overstatement to get the weekend started!
If you read the About page of the blog, you will see that Niall states very clearly: “If you are the copyright owner of any media posted and would like it to be taken down, just contact me. If you like something you hear, please support the artist and label by purchasing the release”
Unfortunately, dear Anon, music blogging has become part and parcel of the music industry. If you’d like, I can point you toward a multitude of articles that highlight how posting music on blogs actually benefits the artist and their music. Rather than in any way irresponsible, I would argue that Niall is doing Crystal Swing a service by further spreading their music.
Have you emailed Ellen Degeneres to ask her to stop directing people to the Youtube video, which is most likely also an infringement of copyright? Like it or not, Crystal Swing’s new found popularity is solely down to the internet – take the good with the bad!
Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with Niall or his blog, just an interested reader. If you are affiliated with the band, and actually have an issue with the posting of the MP3, I suggest that you come out from behind your anonymity and deal with this in a professional manner
“…It is blatant copyright infringement and as a respected music blogger you should know better…”
Anon,
You moron – Are we to assuming of course that Crystal Swing have permission from Lorrie Morgan or Sammy Kershaw to release it in the first place??
Somehow, I don’t think they managed that somehow.
Dear anon, I’m afraid as Crystal Swing scale the echelons of musical stardom, they are going to have to deal with the inevitable modern day perils of having mp3s of their music downloaded without their direct consent.
You might see it as a tough break, but considering the only reason people outside of Age Action rallies and weddings in East Cork are now talking about them is because of how their music spread via the internetz then they should be grateful one of their tunes has been posted on Ireland’s most popular music blog.
They will be thanking Nialler when they win the Choice Music Prize.
Oh anon, you made fun of nialler9, you may as well have told u2 fans Bono is crap or on the record followers how painfully boring jim Carroll is.
Bad are shit by the way
Firstly, I’ll call myself Anon, Sarah, Sean, Cecilia, Doris, Gay Byrne, Barry White, David Hasselhoff or whatever the hell I want thanks very much…. lest I be spat on in the streets by you blog uber-royalty, witch hunting, backlash junkies.
Secondly, I’m also “just an interested reader”, I’ll concede my comment would have been better directed at Niall in a private message and I’ll also concede “grossly” irresponsible may have been slightly overstated.
Thirdly, Una, I’m sure Crystal Swing are truly honoured to be featured on Niall’s blog. I bet they are all avid subscribers.
I’m delighted there are people, like Niall, or indeed your good selves, interested enough to support Irish music of any kind, however, the fact is Niall is infringing copyright law. He could have shown his support by just posting the video and not ripping and posting the mp3 and making it available for others to download and proliferate.
Crystal Swing will make zero Euro from YouTube views but they can potentially make something from mp3’s and who would begrudge them that.
It’s this “publish mp3’s willy nilly, they’ll thank me for it” attitude that ultimately forces Irish music ambassadors like Road Records to appeal for donations to keep their store open and all those amazing underground acts that you all champion to chuck it in after a year due to no cash flow. And if you don’t believe that to be true, you’re obviously not trying to make a living solely from music or struggling to keep your job in music retail, distribution, PR, radio or a label, indie or otherwise.
@Brian – agreed, I feel your pain on both fronts.
If you read the About page of the blog, you will see that Niall states very clearly: “If you are the copyright owner of any media posted and would like it to be taken down, just contact me. If you like something you hear, please support the artist and label by purchasing the release
At the risk of looking silly, that disclaimer is not worth the screen it’s written on. I’ve always been uneasy about posting unauthorised mp3s on mine, but I’ve always assumed Niall had permission before posting his.
Let’s be honest: surely by posting the mp3 and making the song available for supposedly ‘illegal’ download, thus decreasing the amount of cash that Crystal Swing could potentially make from this cover version, if any cash at all, Nialler is merely increasing the chance of Crystal Swing’s swift demise,no?
And that’s a very good thing.
While we can all have a laugh,no-one wants these people to ever get anywhere peddling this shite and trying to form a career from it,do they?
It’d be like buying acid on the cheap to give to Dr Crippen as a goodwill gift.
Let’s not confuse this hilarious flavour of the month with actual music and actual artists about whom we truly care.
Personally, I pray that Crystal Swing fail horribly because if they genuinely believe this is a good performance of music of any description then the world is a worse place for them, it really is.
Again, I have to say, I find it hilarious. But arguing for them as artists trying to make a living? Fuck right off.
The argument of them being ‘into what they’re doing’ and ‘people enjoying it’ is the reason we have the Kasabian virus (KSBN-1) destroying these islands at the moment. We can’t contain every new plague.
Take care of yourselves…aaaand each other.
I’m not sure on whose behalf Adam is speaking, but I have no fundamental problem with Crystal Swing. They sing in tune and they obviously have a market that they entertain on a regular basis.
The music is unbearably cheesy, the singing is aggressively hammy and the video is hilarious if only because Mary is clearly playing a different song and Derek keeps diving in front of Dearbhla any time the camera starts to focus on her. It’s a catchy song, so good luck to them if they can get a little bit of success on the back of this publicity.
I definitely won’t look down on them because they’re not the new Flying Lotus or Black Milk or whoever’s popular this evening.
That was quite a rant there Adam.. Do you really feel threatened by this or do you just like talking shite?
It should be immediately obvious that I don’t treat Crystal Swing as most other artists I feature here (with permission).
They are an ephemeral viral hit. Sure, they’ll have their audience and they’ll be looking to make a few quid out of all the attention but they are a novelty act. The song is utter cheesy shite and that’s why it’s spread so much.
I doubt these guys are registered with IMRO or that they sought permission to do a cover but that is beside the point.
Perhaps I shouldn’t have posted the MP3 but the fact is it’s a poor quality rip of the audio from Youtube. Crystal Swing don’t sell MP3s (but a link to buy the albums is above if you feel so inclined). The real reason I posted this here is for a laugh, so people can play it out or at parties or whatever and share the meme so to speak. If people like it for genuine reasons then that’s fine, they should buy the CD.
Additional points:
– This is a novelty rip that has received much less interest on the blog than nearly every other song by artists featured on Nialler9.
– I do not (and will not) see any correlation between Crystal Swing and Road Records or the state of the industry in general.
– 99% of the MP3s I post are approved for promo downloads or by artists, labels or PR.
It’s good to see some debate and discussion happening regardless.
Yo Robbie, I like talking shite.
I just wanted to comment that you don’t need permission to do a cover but you should be paying royalties to the relevant party or parties if you are using it commercially.
Aron,
They did release it – it’s on the CD.
“It should be immediately obvious that I don’t treat Crystal Swing as most other artists I feature here (with permission).
– This is a novelty rip that has received much less interest on the blog than nearly every other song by artists featured on Nialler9.
– I do not (and will not) see any correlation between Crystal Swing and Road Records or the state of the industry in general.”
Ladies and gentlemen…. exhibit A above…. elitism and music snobbery at it’s zenith, direct from the horse’s mouth.
Also, I think you’ll find I was drawing a correlation between the cavalier attitude you and many others employ toward other people’s art (solely in this instance by your own admission) and their declining ability to make a living from it as a result and not between the quality of Road Records versus Crystal Swing, that much should be quite obvious.
I’m sure no one was in doubt you posted this for a laugh but my point is you should apply the same policy toward this as any other act you feature and therefore should ask permission before publishing downloadable mp3’s.
It’s of no consequence to you whether or not they are registered with IMRO, currently selling MP3’s or sought permission for the cover. (Correct Aron, they don’t need permission to record a cover version).
In addition, who are you to say this is an ephemeral hit? Much to our dismay, Crystal Swing’s recordings will probably be pumped out at every wedding afters and GAA club 21st long after 90% of the acts you support have arrived back at their mother’s doorstep looking for rent funds.
@ Dave – well said Dave.
I knew you’d come at me with that music snobbery charge. I’m entitled to my opinion. if you see it as snobbery that’s your problem but it’s clear from the reaction to the Crystal Swing video in the last two weeks that the overwhelming majority of people are NOT treating them seriously.
I’m not saying you were comparing the quality of Road Records with Crystal Swing. Read back what I said.
Anon,
You don’t need permission to record a cover, but you do need permission to release it.
This argument seems to miss a fairly clear point – All copyright issues you have with the mp3 apply to the youtube video too, which is unofficial therefore copyright infringing. You could technically plug your smartphone into a deck at a gig and play the tune off youtube.
The copywars go on but the people who stand in the we-must-stop-bloggers corner tend to overlook the fact that most youtube videos break the exact same laws that they are using as excuses to take down bloggers, arrest “pirates” and throttle people who happen to be downloading a large amount of data (what about people who WORK with video? Hello?).
Deciding to turn a blind eye to youtube videos, just because they are beneficial to the content while also charging, fining and arresting sometimes KIDS for breaking the same laws is just plain hypocritical and wrong.
For example, I didn’t see Disney arrest this guy: http://www.youtube.com/user/Fagottron#p/u/1/JVxe5NIABsI
Why? Coz it’s fucking good. But if they HAPPENED to not like it, they could use the same laws and arrest him.
I’m not saying we have the answers yet, but some kind of copyright reform is needed in the future that will stop giving these guys the power to ruin things they don’t understand and put us in a place where we can reward deserving artists in ways that are not damaging to others while promoting innovation and creativity within in the digital arts.
By the way anon, if you feel the need to employ name calling in your arguments I reckon deep breaths are called for. Maybe count to ten before typing next time.
It’s kind of funny, the person who decides to remain Anonymous almost always loses debates like these…
everyone needs to get a sense of humour,……someone throw a pie or something ffs
baaaaaaaaahahahahahahahahaha
He’s not a music blogger, he’s a very naughty boy!
The problem here is that Niall does not have permission from the act to host this MP3. 99.9% of the MP3s which Niall posts here are completely legit and above-board – he gets a fawning email from the PR with the MP3 attached (which has been sent to 1000s of other music bloggers) and he hosts it here. Everyone is happy – the readers get the music, the act get the exposure and Nialler gets to be one of the top 100,000 music bloggers in the world
In this case, however, Niall has ripped the Mp3 from a YouTube video and posted it. This is a no-no but it is seen as OK because the act in question are ironic (read: absolutely shite but everyone is having a giggle at them so why not join in?).
Leaving aside the musical yeahs and nahs, what Niall has done is illegal. Should Crystal Shite have their shit together – which they don’t – and if they don’t want a terrible bad-quality rip representing them on a minority interest blog, they should write to Niall and ask him to remove the link.
That aside, if Niall is really serious about Nialler9 as a blog and wants to keep those nice ads he has up above and at the side, he should remove the rip ASAP.
crystal swing didnt write the song so dont own rights to shit. and surley if they dont want people dissing their video they wouldnt put it on youtube for the world to see ….whats the argument here??
Just reading this now, hilarious. Nothing wrong with copyright law as it is, just tonnes of issues with it’s enforcement etc. Niall you certainly have your critics, God help you, for all you do to spread the good word. Regardless, “anon” was technically right and didnt deserve to be labelled a moron by someone for what was a decent and teasing post. This song will certainly never become a true meme but it makes me smile to see how almost 11 years since i first started reading blogs, they still lend themselves to misinterpretation and crossed swords.Nialler9 a music snob/elitist? ridiculous, more like a music “ho” who’d sell his granny for a new song to hear. Keep up the ever excellent work.
“Song removed because I’d like to move on with posting music I actually enjoy. It was a silly post that got out of hand. I want this blog to be about positivity and this is not that.”
I laughed.
latest crystal swing interview.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcrYz7t5Drk