Music Pirates--I Hope Your Ship Sinks

And I sincerly do. People who pirate music off the internet, that is, steal the artists work are people that irk me to no end. I'm not sure if it's ignorance of what they're doing, or if they know and they just want to get something for free. In either case, it's wrong, and it trickles down and effects a lot more than what most people realize.

I'm very hard pressed to find a CD in stock at a music store these days. Sometimes, I have to download what I'm looking for. This doesn't make me a hypocrite, because I'm doing it the right way. I am an iTunes user, and have dowloaded music on occasion. And yes, I have to admit that I have downloaded a single song from an album when I should have done the whole thing, but at least I paid for it.

And I also need to confess that there was a time when I downloaded music illegally. I used to use Limewire to get what I wanted, and in hindsight I have now learned that that's wrong. Since my knowledge of the music world has matured ten-fold, I now do things the way they should be done.

Now that I have admitted my guilt, I'll now turn the tide back on the main issue: music pirates. Let me put this into perspective for you with hazarding a question in your direction. Do you honestly think that what you're doing is any different than walking into a music store, grabbing a CD of the shelf, and walking right out the front door with it? Without paying for it?

Well, I got news for you--it's not! If I asked that question to random people on the street, I would assume the answer would be no, that they would never do that. And yet I could probably ask them if they download music online for free, and I would almost guarantee you that the answer would be most definately yes.

It's no wonder then, how music retailers like FYE (whom I am most depressed to see fleeting away) are going out of business. There's no competition. Physical retailers can't keep up with the growing popularity of online retailers.

It's simply way too convenient for people to sit in the comfort of their own homes, and get an instant download of their favorite songs or albums. People want things now. Not here in 20 minutes, not in a week, now. It takes time for people to get off their butts, get in the car, drive to the record store, find and purchase the album, and drive back home. Yeah, sorry for the inconvenience.

I'm also sorry that you would have to actually pay 10 or 12 dollars to actually attain the album that you want. Sorry that you would actually be supporting the artist, who worked tirelessly to produce that album that you love so dearly. Sorry that you would have to help the artist keep their job so they can continue to make music that you love and want to hear.

I could've clouded this post up with a bunch of statistics about the downhill trend of record store sales and the upward trend of downloading to support my point. But what would be the point? I've read articles like that before, and obviously, the numbers aren't registering with people.

They are with people like me, who believe that people should pay for their entertainment so that entertainment can be allowed to endure. But the rest of population, isn't getting it.

This post was more for me to get my feelings out about the issue. People who know me, know that I take music very very serious, and I'll be damned if I see the day that record stores go out of business--although that day seems to be poking it's head up over the horizon.

Until that day comes, I will do my part to support the artists for all the hard work they do, especially the underground artists who need it most. And I would hope that the few that read this post, will have their eyes opened with what I've so clearly spelled out, and hopefully rally a few troops in the fight to save artists and record stores alike.