Portraits from the Hate Machine is a website devoted to the best of live music. We offer extensive archives of unofficial live recordings for download and streaming media in both audio and video formats for our featured bands. We are grateful that all our bands generously allow the free sharing and trading of these shows. They all support this site. It is strictly prohibited to sell live recordings and Portraits vigorously pursues those who do so. It is also strictly prohibited to share official recordings such as commercial album and DVD releases. Support the artists by buying their official material and merchandising.

2012 is a proud year for me as Portraits will be 5 years old.  It is 5 years in March since I first opened a download site with Freewebs using the much loved and recently killed Megaupload to host the files.  It is 5 years in September since I went wild on the net with direct downloads.  We will be coming up with a few special treats throughout the coming months to celebrate.  By the end of the year one of my initial ambitions will be achieved and the full NIN archive will be available online.

Unofficial live music plays an important role for bands - it stimulates interest between albums and showcases them to the concert going public. In their quest for control of the music industry, the record labels often fail to appreciate this. The internet offers a forum in which both bands and fans can benefit from sites such as this one. Bands are no longer introduced to the majority of new fans via traditional pre-internet routes. New fans find bands on YouTube, torrent sites and sites such as ours - giving them a legal alternative to listen to and watch new music rather than downloading pirated official material has to be good for everyone.  If they like what they find and become fans of a band they will go out and buy the official material.  Fans will spend a lot of money on a band they like.  Unless they are disrespected and treated like criminals by the very labels who want their custom.

This site is about more than just providing live recordings for the fans. We are part of a network of thriving fan communities on the internet. If you have an interest in any of these bands then join in! We offer links to the major fan forums and social networking pages along with sites of interest such as wikis where you can find detailed information on the band of your choice.

Although our archives are extensive, we must work hard to continually add to them. There are regular updates and information about these can be found both here on the individual band homepages and on our Facebook page. Some shows are only available through Facebook or may be released there ahead of appearing on the main site. Some of our Manson shows are also offered exclusively to Provider Module, by far the best Manson forum on the net and we have a close relationship with them. I strongly encourage any Manson fans to join. We also offer exclusives on other bands there, some of whom appear here on the site and some of whom do not.

One of the ways in which we obtain new material is through the relationship we have with our users who generously donate shows we do not have in exchange for the many they download from us. We are always grateful to anyone who is kind enough to offer new shows to us so that they may be shared with and enjoyed by many thousands of fans just like you. We are also grateful to those who record the shows and then share them with us. Please contact us if you would be willing to donate a show at pfthm@live.com or on our Facebook page.

Portraits also campaigns with the fan communities to ensure their continued enjoyment of free music. At the moment we are engaged in trying to persuade Marilyn Manson to operate an Open Taping Policy on his upcoming tour. Identical policies are employed by many bands these days and very successfully so. The shining example is that of the NIN community whose superb recordings have been breathtaking. We can only congratulate their excellent tapers and hope that we may soon be able to do the same for Manson. In addition to providing so many great quality recordings there are other benefits. The illegal selling of unofficial recordings (bootlegs) has been endemic in the past and the free sharing of so many quality shows is the best way to undermine this. We have been much more successful as fans than the record labels whose heavy handed tactics have proven to be counter-productive and have aroused much ill-feeling. If they persist in limiting the distribution music they will end up making it rarer and therefore more attractive to unscrupulous sellers.  It also discourages pirating (the illegal downloading of official material) by providing the fans with legal alternatives. One day the record industry might wake up to the fact that working with the fans in a constructive way is much more productive and sensible than attacking their own customer base (a stupid and risky strategy at best which WILL backfire on them). Please 'like' our Facebook campaign page.

We are blessed within our communities with a diverse range of extremely talented artists from all branches of the arts. Our soon to be revamped New Bands page highlights some of the excellent bands and musicians among us. This page has been very successful in the past with large traffic and downloads of the available tracks. We will be adding new bands and updating the old ones. If you are in a touring/recording band in need of publicity please contact us with a press pack and demos/tracks at pfthm@live.com.

If you have any problems with using the site or with the downloads themselves, please consult our Help pages. If you are still having problems contact us at pfthm@live.com or on our Facebook page.