On Piracy and Hypocrisy

I'm the last person in the world to ever judge someone for downloading shit off the internet. I don't remember when the last time I actually paid for music was. So this isn't going to be one of those "piracy is terrible and needs to be stopped" speeches. Because I don't really give a shit.

What I do give a shit about is people who bitch about the kinds of movies that get made and music that gets promoted. Or rather doesn't, in most cases. Do you know why your favorite Icelandic folk-metal band can't get a record deal while RIAA can't wait to slap Justin Bieber's face on anything it can get it's hands on? Because 14 year old girls buy cds. You don't. You download all your shit off Pirate Bay for free. Which is fine. But there are repercussions to that. Why does Hollywood keep pumping out the same buddy cop romcom and superhero reboots now in Seizurematic 3D IMAX? Well they might have been more inclined to take a chance on a deep character drama by that little indie director you like so much, but you'd probably just bittorrent a bootleg copy if you couldn't just wait for it to come out on Netflix. Cause who pays movie theater prices? That shit's for suckers!

Oh I can just hear you now.

"But why can't they just do it for the love of their art form? Not everything has to be about money!"  

Yyyyyyeahhhh...That all sounds well and good on paper. But there is this really asshole thing that a lot of us humans like. It's called eating. And most of us like to do it with some kind of regularity. And apparently Whole Foods doesn't accept demo cd's in exchange for groceries. So while the whole "love of the game" speil might sound like a good arguement on your favorite messageboard, it's a known fact that four out of five artist would choose Not Starvation over Artistic Integrity.

"Well you know, they don't have to become rich. They still make more than the rest of us. They should just be happy enough to make a living doing what they love!"

Yeah but no. You see, you're a no-talent-having jizzbucket who makes coffee at Starbucks or suffles papers around in a cubicle. Being creative is hard. I know. I fail miserably at it on a pretty consistent basis. Why shouldn't they be rewarded for their talent and hard work? In the world we live in, you vote with your wallet, to use an overdone cliche. If you aren't going to pony up your money to support the shit you want to see and hear, why should anyone else?

"Well I don't want my money going into some big shot executive's pockets!"

I used to use this argument. Then I grew up and stopped being a fucking retard. You're not taking a stand against the system and making a difference. You're just taking money out of your favorite artists' pockets. Do you think those record and studio execs are going to say "Well profits are down but we'll just take a pay cut so we can keep paying our artist the same amount?" If you do, you should seriously consider trying to stop a subway with your face. Those guys will continue to keep taking their ridiculously fat salaries. Either at your expense or at the expense of the writer/musician/director you whose work you love. So lets just stop pretending that your cheapskateness is some kind of capitalist protest. It's not. It's just you being a cheap motherfucker.

So by all means, keep doing what your doing. But don't come bitching to me when all your favorite websites start looking like this:

If you want to get informed

If you want to get involved