There is something undeniably pleasurable about downloading a torrent. Never having done it myself (LÖL), I suspect that the pleasure is exponentially sweeter if the torrent is of the “illegal” kind. But why?
Since early childhood, we are constantly fed one of the most fundamental truths of modern society: time is money.
Although I personally disagree with this outlook on life (I’m more of a time is knowledge type of guy), I do believe that this is the main cause of guilt-free pirating.
Without even realizing it, people feel that the time invested in waiting for that album, movie, or shiny new copy of Adobe Photoshop to complete downloading covers its actual cost!
Well, maybe not Photoshop. At 630 dollars a pop, that shit would cost a few weeks of your time, assuming minimum wage.
Crazy thought? Maybe. But it sure would help explain the mainstream consensus that stealing intellectual property is simply not wrong and thus, by default, right.
“Its not really pirating unless you’re wearing an eye patch while you do it,” says I, the author of such acclaimed articles as the one you’re currently reading and Babies and Other Hazards of Sex: How to Make a Tiny Person in Only 9 Months, with Tools You Probably Have Around the Home.
I may not be able to fully explain why you pirate, nor do I have a remedy to get you to stop because that would be mighty hypocritical of me. What I would like to do is guide your pirate ship into the less crowded and safer seas. Because for every successful pirate, there is another pirate who can’t wait to loot his gold.
There are tons of great bands out there who actually encourage your pirating habits by giving their music away for free.
Demonoid, a semi-private torrent site/tracker has been greatly supportive of such artists ever since coming back online in early 2008. Many bands receive an honorable mention (and a link to their album) on demonoid’s front page.
One such band, the Naked Empire was brought to my attention in late September. Its unique vocals, haunting and original guitar lines, and powerful, yet subtle piano pieces are slightly reminiscent of Muse and have been growing on me in the past few months.
I feel that further spreading Naked Empire’s name is the least I can do to show my appreciation of their free gift to the masses. Nonetheless, something tells me that the publicity surrounding their album’s release was worth the pennies they would have made off of individual CD sales had they gone with a more traditional distribution model.
With no further adieu, I give you the Naked Empire.
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are you a fan of any indie bands that openly support bitTorrent? Why do you think pirating has become so main stream? fuck the RIAA? Let us know!
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
I only pirate something if I (A)Can’t find it legally, or (B)Think the people selling it legally are assholes. (See EMI putting Radiohead’s old stuff on Itunes).
Other than that, I buy all my music legally, because if the albums don’t make enough money, they might stop getting made.
that makes a lot of sense, unfortunately most people aren’t as fair as you… including myself.
We usually try to rationalize piracy by telling ourselves that the artists make the most money from going on tours anyway, or that the music is simply not worth our money, but these are just excuses. If you don’t think the music is worth the price then you should just protest and not listen to it.
Pirating intellectual property is stealing regardless of how you look at it. The difference between me and the general public is that I realize I am a thief.
I see itunes as shop-therapy. That is only because I have been brainwashed with the full blooded American mentality that convinces me that buying things makes me happy, even if I know it is just temporarily.
Don’t get me wrong I wear the musical parrot on my shoulder as well.
Pirating is inherently different from stealing.
http://www.devtopics.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/piracyisnottheft.jpg
We don’t have to worry about the RIAA anymore though!!!!! YAY!
Thats a pretty outdated definition of stealing though haha. In my opinion, stealing is when you attain intellectual property (or an identical copy of the intellectual property) without proper compensation to the original owner. That’s also my definition of piracy.
About not having to worry about the RIAA anymore… we have to worry about our ISPs though which is even worse :(. They are just as greedy and will take any chance they get to “unclog” the interweb pipes from p2p traffic because it saves them money. I’m actually more scared now!
but ISP’s are so greedy they would rather have your monthly fee and let you download then cut you and everyone else off who pirates and lose millions in monthly access dollars
that’s a very good point. I don’t think they’ll go around disconnecting everyone at first offense. I’m sure they’ll have a system of extra fees in place and if every ISP is doing it then the customer will have no place to run because in this day and age everyone needs internet access.
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