shut up about the piracy! I am sick of it!

Now, I know that music piracy and “Å“illegal” downloading is a sensitive subject for some, but not for me. Not anymore anyway; I want it known that I think that whole thing is a load of horse shit. I have commented on it before, in the form of a rant to Sony about their new uber-evil tactics to prevent you from copying a damn CD that you just freshly purchased (which you can read here); and then today, I read this. Seems that Sony is not only preventing you from copying the CD that you RIGHTFULLY PAID FOR, but they are putting malicious software on your PC, just because you were unlucky enough to buy one of those CDs in the first place.

So here’s what I want to know; am I, and others like me, such a threat to the music industry, that by downloading one or two songs here and there “Å“illegally”, or God-forbid making ourselves a mixed CD from stuff in our collection, we should be lumped into the same category with people that mass produce illegal copies and distribute bootleg music; and punished thusly? You DO realize that this is almost the same as getting out the old tape deck and recording the top nine at nine, like we did when we were 10 years old. Thank GOD you weren’t beating down my door for having “Å“I Wanna Sex You Up” on a couple of tapes that I had made.

What the fuck kind of world do we live in, where there is a such a hold on something like music, when they person that MADE the music doesn’t even see most of the profit from something THEY did? I’ll have you know, that the few songs I DO download every now and then have led to some MAJOR purchases of CD’s, because who wants to buy a CD they have never heard (and the 30 second clip on iTunes ain’t cutting it folks, and you know it), or better yet, from an artist they have never heard of? By downloading music, whether “Å“legally” or “Å“illegally”, provides something that usually DOES benefit the artist; a lot of people buy their stuff. Many artists (unlike Madonna, Green Day, U2, etc) aren’t so rich that they have lost sight of why they started making music in the first place. In my opinion, we are taking away the very joy that music has the potential to bring, and slapping a Wal-Mart sticker on it and wrapping it in cellophane. Here’s hoping it doesn’t suffocate. I would like to believe that many artists would agree, but due to the hold the music companies, like Sony, have on people, I doubt they do; there’s too much at stake for them.

Stop trying to go after the little guy, Sony (and all the other super rich music giants). We stand by your artists, don’t fuck us in the ass because we want to copy something or download something OCCASIONALLY. I am AGAINST massive downloading and MASS distributing, and so are most people, in fact, MOST PEOPLE DON’T DO THAT! So stop lumping us all in the same category, and stop trying to “Å“get what’s yours”; because in case you forgot, without the artist, and without us, you don’t have ANYTHING. And if you keep this up, I, and many others, are going to TOTALLY STOP buying records again, and get back on the “Å“illegal” download game; because as long as we aren’t mass producing it, and distributing it, we aren’t really doing anything wrong. And you know that is true. And if not that, we will just throw our money mindlessly at Apple; at least then, you won’t get it. Now, I know that there are many of you that don’t, so if you don’t agree, throw your two cents in, but I absolutely stand by what I am saying; downloading music is not illegal; as long as you are only using it for yourself and probably a few friends and that’s all. It has been studied, and proven that the people out there buying shit are the same ones doing the downloading anyway. And one more thing, MOST of the stuff that I download, is a direct result of it not being available for purchase on iTunes, or elsewhere. I have no other choice but to get it somewhere else. So what solution do you have for me there?

Songs I may/may not have downloaded “Å“illegally”/”legally”:
LCD Soundsystem — Tribulations (this song is the best song ever!)
Samantha Ronson — Built This Way
Esthero — We R in Need of a Musical Revolution
Anything that has been remixed (good luck finding ½ of those on iTunes)