On Brian's Thing On Piracy

[Hatake Kakashi]

On the flipside, there are those of us who are getting so very, very tired of being burned by the utter torrent of shit that the industry insists on cramming down our throats, that we won't buy without hearing/testing the whole thing first. Take music for example. Simply put, I look for stuff that my entire family (including impressionable minors) can enjoy, and there's nothing worse than bringing home something that one would think completely harmless, like a new CD, only to have the artist go off the deep end once they're not on their radio tracks anymore, dropping expletives, derogatory messages about women, and other such load that I had absolutely no desire to pay for.

I don't know if you've ever brought home a new album to play for the family, but when that happens, it's embarrassing. And if I can't play the music in my entire family's presence? I really don't want it.

So here's how it works, at least in my case. I hear of some promising new work. I download it. I give it a listen. If I enjoy it and it is content that I would not be embarrassed to play in a family setting, I go out and buy a physical copy from the store. If I get one song that doesn't have to be bleeped and 9 others that do? It gets immediately deleted so I can waste my precious hard drive space on something else. Either way, the artist and record company gets the money that they're due. All or nothing.

The 14 albums I bought this year? Every last one of them, downloaded first. The several I didn't? Again, downloaded first. Then deleted. If it offends the artist and company that I wish to enact a state of "buyer beware" within my home, fuck them. On the internet, all kinds of colorful language is fine. In the context of my home with young ones? Not so much. I have one simple prerequisite that determines whether I'll pay for an album or product: make it "not shit."