Never try to sneak anything past Reddit, even if you don’t think you have anything to hide. Steve Aoki may be feeling the pain here very shortly, as cyber-sleuths on Reddit noticed something out of place in the A Light That Never Comes with Linkin Park preview video.
Oopsie. Team ArCADE is a well known cracking group. That’s clearly a cracked copy of Lennar Digital‘s popular Sylenth 1 VST, which if you didn’t know, retails for around $215 $186 USD.
In and of itself the whole pirated software thing might not be such an issue in the hands of say an amateur producer who has yet to make money with his work, but… We’re talking about an entirely different situation with Aoki, who makes a reported 12 million a year.
Supposedly Lennar Digital has already been notified and we’re still waiting for their response. But remember kids, if you like the software you’ve pirated, buy it. Especially when half of the money you spend on cake a year could easily buy most every VST in production. For shame Steve Aoki, for shame. Watch the video below.
UPDATE: Steve Aoki has posted on his website in response to his use of cracked software coming to light.
It’s recently come to my attention that some fans on Reddit caught a screenshot of a pirated software plug-in from a recent Youtube clip I did with Linkin Park. To clear the air, I have owned the properly registered plug-in, Sylenth, for over 4 years now on my studio computer. I’ve included both the receipt and a screenshot of the actual plug-in below, purchased by my faithful assistant Jacob Lee. This is the computer I do all of my production on, including “A Light That Never Comes” with Linkin Park.
However, the honest truth is that screenshot is in fact of my road laptop (the laptop I DJ with). I go through 5 or 6 of them a year, usually purchasing them while on the road. After my last purchase, I had asked my road team to help me load in my production software and apparently they didn’t ask Jacob for the authorization code for Sylenth and installed a pirated version.
So my apologies go out to the good people at Lennar Digital and a big thank you to my fans that caught the mistake which has since been rectified.
Sincerely,
Steve Aoki
He also posted a receipt of purchase:
What’s the point of making so much money if you aren’t going to spend it?
So out of all the money he makes he can’t spend $215 on software?
Let them eat cake.
wow
He prefers cakes than legal software ;-).
He doesn’t even mix well anyway.
You know what’s worse than the fact that Aoki is using pirated software? The fact that someone took the time out of their day to sit there and pause the video at that very frame, take a screen shot, and upload it to Reddit in attempts of thwarting Aoki. Most people who watched that preview video likely wouldn’t even have noticed during those couple of seconds that frame appeared, which concerns me even more to think that someone was actually looking for that. I get it, he has money and he could definitely afford to purchase the software, but to sit here and continuously bash the guy over it is ridiculous. It’s very likely he just never got around to purchasing it officially; he’s definitely not the first producer to use pirated software. I’m not even a big Aoki fan, I just find the amount of backlash he’s getting for this to be ridiculous. Like let the guy make his music, at least he’s not Will.I.Am(ing) it.
Cracked software doesn’t always mean illegal. Some people use cracked programs as backup copies of the retail software they ALREADY own. It’s completely legal to do this, as long as you own a retail copy. Some programs use DRM that actually hinders the performance of the program itself. The game Spore by EA is a perfect example. Many LEGAL owners grabbed cracked versions because they ran smoother than the retail copy they purchased.
#DigitalFreedom
I like how everyone is so judgmental in EDM community. What happened to PLUR? Ha ha I just hope he doesn’t get into trouble. I pirated Reason 5, and right now I have a purchased copy of 7 and Recycle on its way. In my opinion it helps with sales.Trying the full thing before you buy it. Way better then ending up with something you don’t like and spent a load of money on.
Hey on the brightside, thanks for letting us know who we should go to for some free plugins! Team arCADE Woo hoo!
This is pretty stupid, a lot of artists have to crack software. Zedd announced publicly on twitter that he has to do it. Big names get sponsored by production software companies and get loads of free shit anyway.
What’s even worse is I’m sure the person who posted it to reddit is probably pirating all his music any way.
what is even more sad is linkin park…
thanks for the source guys! http://stoneyroads.com/steve-aoki-walks-the-plank-caught-using-pirated-synths/
here is a thought what if he was using the clubs pc or a borrowed pc…………….
The cake is a lie…… and it’s pirated cake too.
read this:
http://www.nightdisco.net/images/stories/2012/artisti/p-s/steve-aoki-004.jpg
I blame Hi-def cameras.
Who ever has not had a craked copy of any software or app let him Cast The First Stone or virus.
I just downloaded every Aoki track illegally. I tried to find some good ones, but it was all the same shit. Who would actually pay money for this music? It should be free for all 12 year olds into “EDM”.
who said it’s his computer?
Steve Aoki endorsing one of their products on an extremely popular song / video / is worth 216 for Lenner Digital in an endorsement sense. The fact he cracked in the first place is probs a negative however I bet atleast one person has bought the synth from that video.
“In and of itself the whole pirated software thing might not be such an issue in the hands of say an amateur producer who has yet to make money with his work, but… We’re talking about an entirely different situation with Aoki, who makes a reported 12 million a year.”
So, does that mean that as I cannot afford to buy a Porsche, I can just steal one? Ridiculous argument, stealing is stealing…if you cannot afford the software, go get a Job to pay for it…I do! And, before the moans start with, “I’ll pay for it when I make money with my music”, then don’t bother, the same people who don’t pay for their software, don’t pay for Music!
12 million dollars.
I heard he doesn’t even bake his own cakes either.
Why is it spelled “Linkin” Park, but pronounced “Lincoln?” That was probably the (literally) dumbest band name ever.
Avicii too? See @ 1:01:53. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dIcuU58Oy8
if you are a professional music producer and you get caught using pirated software.. you must suffer the consequences. the law is the law and anybody that comes up with some lame excuse to try defend aoki is just a brown nosing ass kisser.
Yeah, the more attention we draw to this by talking about it and posting, the more we hurt ourselves, think about it, if Skrillex wouldn’t have had access to a pirated version of Massive before many people here even heard of Dubstep, he wouldn’t have wont 3 grammys and half this room wouldn’t have been here posting hates. Whether you paid for software or you download it illegally is your business, the same as whether you smoke pot to produce music or go by your day. I am not the moral police and no one here is.
The dude looks like Johnny Depp’s cousin so maybe he was re-enacting being a Pirate.
WHat a freak’n idiot, he has plenty of money and should not be so tight. what a jerk to that company.
é.. ta ruim pra todo mundo.
Who cares anyway, Steve Aoki is a effing JOKE, and his music is SHITE.
Support what you love, plain an simple especially if you have money
Steve Aoki trashes a laptop about once every two months. You try keeping a computer running with all that cake and champagne spraying all over the place. And yes it is legal if you have an actual purchased version depending on how my authorized computers the software you bought will allow in the termos and conditons. A perfect example is I purchased a downloadable copy of Microsoft office for Mac after TSA at LAX destroyed my laptop while out on tour with Kr#$^&! I could not get it to authorize. I spent 90 minutes on the phone with Microsoft and they couldn’t get it to authorize. At that point I was in a bind and told microsoft “screw it, I’ll download it off pirate bay” The techs response was “we can’t recommend doing that but since you purchased the software you are not breaking the law in our eyes”.
Seriously, who gives a shit?
i dont care if he does use cracked software or not …just make music ..im sure the company cares but a simple oops and purchase would been fine. im sure hes invested tons of money into music gear software ex.
honestly, I see a lot of producers using cracked software. famous or not. its everywhere. even computer os’s get cracked just to have better features.
That’s bull, one would instanltly notice if you have a cracked vst or not and reinstall the legal version of it.
Oooo I see now lol 😉
oh well……..