There will be plenty of material from the Monsters of Rock festival in Sao Paulo, Brazil. But today, I was thrown RIGHT back to the 80’s with a bang.

You know the time, like 30 years ago, when there was something called “bootlegs” that was HIGHLY illegal, that you had to buy from your local record store, somewhere in a dark corner when nobody was watching? Cause GOD FORBID that the artist might maybe not make a buck off of it? Like ANYONE would rather buy a shitty audio-bootleg instead of the real deal? Like it wasn’t for FANS who only bought bootlegs because they already HAD everything else?!

Talk about being absolutely clueless about your own fans… That was the 80’s – this is 2015. Today YouTube is a MARKETING TOOL. Blabbermouth picks up on my videos, and select artists and bands have gotten that extra exposure and free publicity that bands desperately NEED these days.
By sharing videos in social media, they are being seen by thousands of people who maybe wouldn’t have given two fucks about them otherwise- and they don’t have to pay for advertising either. With the way the industry works today, that’s exactly the kind of PR you NEED as an artist.

This (see pic below) is what I found when I logged into my YouTube account today. Not a civilized message asking if I could be so kind to remove the video because the band thought they looked or sounded bad or whatever. No – a report that threatens to close down my channel.
For 1 (as in o-n-e) video that I thought would be beneficial to the band. Why I would even bother, I should have known better. It’s MANOWAR…?

So – ALL of you out there who have happily wanted to share your Manowar-experience with others, make sure you remove it from YouTube right away, or you will have these dangerous WARRIORS killing your accounts with their swords – or something. WTF?!

So, in translation, this is what it says – my account, that has been of good use to modern bands and artists that USE YouTube as a TOOL, is now in “bad standing” and I’m unable to use some features. Thank you so much Manowar. If anyone wants to buy my Manowar-CD:s they’re now for sale.

I’ve talked about this whole YouTube-bullshit in other blogs before. It’s 2015 – you have a SEA of thousands of cameras and cellphones in front of you. Are you going to declare war against ALL of those people? THOSE are the people buying your merch – is it a smart move to alienate those people?

Many years ago, I had a similar experience when a video of Pretty Boy Floyd – and a really GOOD one too I might add, had been online for OVER A YEAR – suddenly got one of these “strikes” out of the blue.

I contacted one of the members of the band and asked him what the f*** he couldn’t just have sent me a message for – I would have taken it down in an instant. The fact that it was even up there was because it was a good performance and it was a clip with good audio (I hate the shitty cellphone-videos with distorted sound) it’s for the bands to use for their own pleasure, music is my passion.

Turns out that he had no clue what he was doing – their attorney had recommended them to report EVERYTHING that was Pretty Boy Floyd-related on YouTube, INCLUDING their own fans performing covers of their songs. The reason being that they were planning on releasing a DVD and didn’t want ANY other material to be available out there.

Well, I guess you don’t need to be Einstein to understand that if you’re pissing off the people who are your potential buyers, you might not be doing the right thing. Did they even release that DVD by the way..? I don’t know. In all honesty, the guy apologized for getting me in trouble, it wasn’t his intention and he was only following orders.

Manowar – a band from the 80’s, still living by the 80’s rules. It was stupid to think for a SECOND that they would appreciate being seen and heard – something that most bands want.

So, I’m writing this just to warn others – do not share anything Manowar-related, or you will get freaking SUED. Warriors – and all that. It’s just that “Hail and Kill” in their book is now about striking down videos on YouTube.