I've had a nagging conviction lately that downloading music illegally is wrong on so many levels. Duh, you might be thinking. But as a once-poor college student who "loved" music, you'd be surprised by all the ways we come to justify it.
Obviously, on the very basic level, it's illegal. And stories of the government randomly cracking down and the consequences being what they are, freak me out.
But on an entirely different level, I think it's hypocritical. Close friends and acquaintances alike are self-proclaimed "music aficianados," always in the know of who's who and what's what. But they pirate everything. And the reasons are all across the board. I support them by going to shows. I'm too poor but I love music. But the fact of the matter is, the first (and perhaps most important) way to support an artist or the music industry in general is to buy artists' albums.
Since I've started buying music again, I've noticed a change in the way I experience music. Rather than zipping though artists's albums quickly and thoughtlessly, I commit. I've found that spending the $10-15 on an artist not only slows down the experience of enjoying the album, but it makes me care about the artist so much more. And with songs that I don't like initially, rather than deleting them or ignoring them like I used to do, I give them another chance (because, well, I paid for it). And interestingly enough, I come to like those songs...sometimes. Sometimes, they just suck and there's nothing you can do about it.
The thing is, I would have never understood this unless I made this commitment and started buying music. And while my knowledge on what's awesome may not be as up-to-date as before, I'm enjoying old and new artists at a leisurely pace, which is how music should be enjoyed anyway, right?
I have a friend who has always bought CDs (even if it was because she was a "noob and could never figure out how to download music"--her words). But her love of music has always been deeper and more timeless than the rest of us. And now I get it.
Anyway, that's enough of my rambling for now. Comment if you agree (or disagree!) because I'd love to hear your thoughts :)
Until next time, bisous.
2 comments :
I completely agree with you Lys. I have never stole music before and when I buy CDs I need to make sure that I actually want the whole thing before spending the $12.99. Usually I buy singles off of iTunes but buying a whole CD is a major achievement for me and those artists are truly special in my heart.
Totally, when I first started iTunes and such my friends just gave me a bunch of their songs... I thought "yay! sharing music!" I never got into downloading music illegally, I just never bought music. Then I started needing music for my videos and in order to put them in, I had to buy them in my itunes. Anyway, I have started to enjoy music so much more because I really am investing in it with my wallet, I just bought two worship albums (which is crazy 'cause I normally only buy one song at a time, haha). Great thoughts girlfriend.
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