Downhill Battle

Downhill Battle

Downhill Battle is a non-profit organization based in Worcester, Massachusetts. It launched in August 2003 and argues that the four major recording labels have an oligopoly that is bad for both musicians and music culture. They believe that there is an opportunity to change that.

Downhill Battle also believe that filesharing can strengthen the role of independent record labels in the music industry, and they help produce software that helps independent artists and journalists reach a wider audience. The group supports what they call "participatory culture" where everyone is a part of creating and sharing art and music.

Downhill Battle are also known for their projects such as Grey Tuesday, Eyes on the Screen, Banned Music, Peer-to-Peer Legal Defense Fund, and more. Downhill Battle made Spin Magazine's Top 100 moments that rocked the world at #81 for the moment when Downhill Battle launched Grey Tuesday and the Grey Album went viral.

The Downhill Battle team also founded the Participatory Culture Foundation (PCF), which is building an independent internet video platform. PCF also has a set of Participatory Politics projects, including a politics news site and a messageboard service that has been a gathering space for self-organizing.

Downhillbattle.org has been down for an extended period of time. It is unclear why or how long this has been its status. The Internet Archive last stored a functional copy of the website in November 2007, as can be seen here.

As of Tuesday March 3, 2009 Downhillbattle.org had been reactivated.

As of Tuesday, May 24, 2011 or earlier, Downhillbattle.org seems to be offline again.

As of Sunday, October 16, 2011 or earlier, Downhillbattle.org had been reactivated.

Software

  • Blog Torrent, a BitTorrent client
  • Local Ink, first public tool for sending letters to local papers by zipcode with a user interface.
  • Conversate, a pre-Facebook website for ad hoc sharing and discussing oflinks, media, email messages, anything, etc. with any grouping of friends, and acquaintances

External links