music piracy - what does it mean to you

*note: there was no Roundtable this week b/c Lammo is at Glasto (obviously) and you couldn't pay me to listen to who's standing in for him *cough*Andrew Collins*cough* so that's why there is no Roundtable for the week of 19/06. just an FYI.

so last week when I was seeing Noah and the Whale - who BTW had an absolutely blinding performance at the 9:30, I couldn't believe I was seeing the same band! - a girl next to us was asking how I got my photo passes, complaining that staff had confiscated her DSLR and that they were being mean. I held my tongue firmly in cheek and didn't say (though I was perfectly in my right to), "I work hard for them." instead I explained that I ran my own music blog. then she started saying some things that probably common sayings among young people, but I was just appalled.

she was saying that on a journal Web site that shalt not be named she could get free albums from other people and that's where she got almost all her music.

you don't want to know what was going through my mind after that. you don't want to know. really.

I'll say now that I don't *mind* that much if you're trading with your mates your favourites to share music, b/c that's where we get good music tips, your best mates. but very rarely. I don't even do this, even though the number I have is insane (both digital and physical) and there's a legitimate reason why I have these. I don't really buy music anymore, b/c when I want to hear something, I ask for a review copy and review it. that way I've given back to the band somehow.

I think young people don't realise what all this illegal downloading is doing to music. I have this discussion with many of my friends' bands, bands that are not at the level of U2, Coldplay, or whoever else, who depend on album sales maybe not for the actual cash but for survival with their label.

while I can relate to young people being skint - I never got a regular allowance myself - it's called saving up. I didn't have enough money of my own to buy my own albums until I was 10. I suppose theoretically, as long as you're old enough to see the computer screen and click on things with the mouse, you could get whatever you wanted, couldn't you?

and I never stole any music as a kid either. the Web makes it far too easy, unfortunately. I used to say my purpose of being a blogger was to get people to gigs in Washington. but now maybe it is a crusade to get people to realise that the music you're stealing is someone else's baby, the product of their blood, sweat, and tears. how would you like it if someone just walked into your house and took something that belonged to you? and spread it around the world?