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Years ago, when the MP3.com website went out of
function, the online (DUB) Reggae artists were
looking for a new place to rest their head.
They discovered it on a website called
Versionist. The site was founded by a visitor of
the Dubroom whose combined love for Reggae and for
the online artists made him start what would grow
out to be almost the one-stop for independent
online (DUB) Reggae.
For years in a row, Versionist has been the
place for the artists to upload their music, while
a multitude of listeners knew their way to the
website as well. A lively, enthusiastic community
formed throughout the years and the daily number
of new musical works would be sky-high.
Versionist was bought and sold to several (new)
owners, who all tried to improve the website in
their own way.
Little by little, things changed. Some artists
would pick up the name Versionist and start to
organize public jam-sessions called
"Versionist Gatherings", others would
start a sound system with the same name.
Good or bad, let that be everyone's own opinion.
Fact is that things went bad throughout 2007 and
now, in May 2008, it seems like the Versionist
website is living on it's last breath.
Last month, the website completely changed it's
look and feel. A new software was installed on the
server and, much to the protest of a large portion
of the users, all the old music and forum posts
were taken off-line.
A fresh start?
This didn't please most of the artists who
use(d) Versionist and after the update, one of
them took the re-start so literally that he
started his own website, called REGGAEDUBWISE.com.
The site grew like a mushroom and in just a few
weeks had bypassed the new Versionist website in
traffic and contents. Most "Versionists"
joined and uploaded new music, while expressing
their opinion concerning the events on the REGGAEDUBWISE.com
Forums.
There will be different views on how Versionist
got into the situation that the site currently
finds itself in, but the fact is that there is
currently a lot of confusion and frustration in
Online Artist land.
On the fora of the RD and V websites, for
example, members ask themselves what to do with
the "Versionist Gatherings" or with the
"Versionist International Sound system",
two things organized by the visitors of the
Versionist website rather than the website
itself.
Obviously, situations where users of one
website will organize things under the name of yet
another website, will produce confusion, not to
mention some serious copyright issues.
Obviously, all this confusion goes hand in hand
with some serious frustration, too. Especially
those artists who connected their works with
Versionist, yes, whose very existence as artists
was based on the Versionist Community, saw all
their works go down in the fiery flames of a site
update.
The difference between owning a website and
using it could not be illustrated more appropriate
than in the events discussed in this report, and
the situation isn't getting better either.
The latest development in this tragedy is a public
offer from the ReggaeDubwise webmaster to purchase
Versionist for $1500.
Between expressions of frustration, we can read
that the plan is to merge the Versionist and REGGAEDUBWISE.com
website into one, and basically re-install the
situation as it was on Versionist before the
infamous site update a few weeks ago.
In the same time, the grapevine is filled with
sounds that indicate the Versionist webmaster
isn't impressed by this offer and wants $10,000
for the website and it's (former) contents.
Obviously, this produces a very interesting
legal situation as well. Can contents of a forum,
for example, be bought and sold without the
consent of the original posters? Even more
important: can the same be done with musical works
that have been uploaded to Versionist throughout
the years?
Questions that will be answered in the times to
come. We'll keep you posted.
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