RIP Usershare: That Mixtape You’re Looking for is Now a Bukkake Video Posted by Nathan S. on 08/31/12 | Filed under Top Stories, Opinion

For years I've been screaming about the dangers of rappers using share site links, and for the most part the world's looked at me like one of those crazy homeless dudes holding a cardboard sign. Fair enough, but the fact that UserShare.net, once one of the more popular file sharing sites around, is now a hardcore porn site, proves I'm not completely crazy.

To rewind, it's not so much the pop-up ads and misleading download links on share sites like UserShare/Limelinx/HulkShare etc. that anger me, although it's true that I just don't need that many penis enlargement ads in my life. What I've always been far more concerned about is that these sites are essentially schemes.

The people who own these sites don't give a fuck about you and the music you upload. As soon as the copyright lawsuits get too annoying, or it starts costing more to run the site than they're getting from those aforementioned fake Viagra ads, they'll just close down shop and move on. Or, in the case of Usershare, sell their whole operation to a porn site.

That's good news for anyone who wants more D in the V videos in their life, but bad news for anyone who ever pushed their music via UserShare, sites who posted those links, or anyone searching for music. In one fell swoop, thousands of songs and mixtapes, literally years of hip-hop, have disappeared. Well...not "disappeared", more like "replaced".

That mixtape your favorite underground rapper spend months carefully crafting and put out via UserShare? It's now "United Nations of Ass Vol. 7". That random J. Cole freestyle you just remembered, wanted to grab and Googled? It's now "Bukkake All-Stars: The European Edition".

Case in point. Those listening to the new Skyzoo album might recognize a sample from Freddie Gibbs "Thug Psalms". Google it and the top search result is a 2Dope post...whose download link is now less "Thug Psalms" and more "Big titted Latina pornstar gets her asshole licked."

(Side note: I wish I could see the look on some A&Rs face when a manager sends them a UserShare link to check out their artist's music, and instead they're treated to a German pornstar drinking pee.)

The point? First, if you like watching big titted Latina pornstars getting their assholes licked more than you want to download music, today is a very good day for you.

Second, if you're an artist or run a site, be careful about the links you post. It's not a matter of if HulkShare/Sharebeast/LimeLinx/etc. will someday suffer the same fate as UserShare, it's a matter of when.

So if you're looking to put out that new track, head on over to sites like AudioMack, SoundCloud, BandCamp, etc. Those sites may not literally last forever (no site does), but they're actual legitimate businesses that won't, you know, get raided by the Feds or sell their URL to PornStreet.com.

In the meantime, we're looking at a future where at least 50% of all the music posted over the last five years could be completely gone from the interwebs as these sites get inevitably shut down. Crazy, but at least we'll have some hardcore porn to console us.

See Also: How NOT to Get Your Music Posted: The F**k Sharebeast Edition