Honestly, after seeing billionaires buy the US gov and then learning that Spotify is owned by a billionaire and artists are terribly compensated, I have been planning to once again fly the pirate flag. I want to pay the artists, but fuck the current options unless there is a different way idk about.
this post was submitted on 07 May 2025
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Piracy: ꜱᴀɪʟ ᴛʜᴇ ʜɪɢʜ ꜱᴇᴀꜱ
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Bandcamp is decent. If you wait for Bandcamp Fridays, all of your money goes to the artist.
I moved to Qobuz for that reason. Much better payout for the artists.
Spotify only pays for the first few listens I think. Also, the payout is a fraction of pennies.
I'd make backups of my purchases and share them with love for preservation and promotion of their authors hard work. "Piracy" was already shown to increase sales, not reduce them. If you really want to do something against an artist you no longer align with, dont consume their products. Don't purchase, don't download and don't share their stuff. Just look around for other artists you do align with, get hooked to their art and support them instead.
My wife refuses to let me pirate books for her. She wants to support the authors she reads, which is fair. But she decided she wanted to try the Harry Potter books, and asked me to pirate them for her to make sure JK Rowling didn't get a penny out of her.
Now that's a keeper
piracy is always better than paying a corpo
I periodically delete my Metallica collection so I can re-download it for no other reason than fuck Lars.
I play bass. Metallica cut Newsted's bass line out of And Justice for All. I'll hate them for it forever. I love Trujillo now and still have not listened to a single Metallica album since he's played with them.
Doing this is not only moral; it's virtuous.
You don't have to justify it, really, but it does feel satisfying when you do.
Which song of his out of curiosity? Just use Soulseek. (nicotine+ on desktop or Seeker on Android)
Thanks for the response. I’ll take a look
Which Kanye song?
No, they said recently
Haha, fair
Hmm I suppose I should amend. I have had this same dilemma with RKelly then MJ. I just can’t condone some artists.
Yeah I pirate all the games that:
- Require an internet connection
- Use Denuvo
- Require a dedicated launcher
- Require a connected account
If you're going to make the paid experience significantly worse than the free one because you want to implement anti-consumer BS, go fuck yourself
Yeh I am not a gamer but have a family of them. As the tech person I’m usually the one dealing with purchases and set up. The evolution of gaming has become a real burden.
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I never needed any moralistic reason to pirate.
Honestly there's so much wonderful art out there not created by Nazis, I don't know that it's worth the energy to pirate Nazi music.
I totally understand the moral pirate argument, I just don't have time to enjoy all of the games, movies, and music from artists I support. To waste what time I have engaging with content from people I find morally repugnant is just not where I'm investing
Same goes for sexual abusers too.
Doesn't matter how good that first Lostprophets album is, I just can't listen to it knowing what Watkins got up to, so I'll listen to music by people who didn't fuck a literal baby.
I totally agree. I just mentioned RKelly and MJ. I have had to stop listening. As time goes by more comes to light and I lose some good tunes.
Use it as an opportunity to find new music and fill those playlists out with a little more variety
My piracy is probably equal parts sticking it to greedy corpos and me just not wanting to pay when I can get it for free.
Same, but rather than not wanting to pay its more like I can't afford to pay.
If there is an indie game that I like I will buy it
Yeah. I refuse to give cuts to amazon, spotify, netflix etc.
If I pirate something from a not super rich artist and I really enjoy it. I’ll send them an email and propose to transfer them some money to support them. I don’t want spotify or amazon or google taking a cut.
Eh, it's kinda down to personal perspective. In mine, absolutely a reasonable way to handle things if you love the art, but don't feel morally comfortable supporting the artist.
I recommend people pirate Enders Game, because fuck Orson Scott Card.
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See, that’s the thing. I don’t listen to music by Nazis.
Nearly everything is priced in dollars and I'm too fucking broke and Brazilian to pay the asking price most of the time.
When I wanted to revisit Harry Potter via audiobook, I pirated the books, and I will do it again someday.
Of course. I stand on high moral ground when I chose to pirate.
Economy is broken and anti-consumer. Piracy if the only way I know to balance things of. If I wouldn't be pirating I would just be letting those economic bullies take advantage of me.
And specially with cultural products there's another big reason, as I think human culture is to be shared, not sold. I do actually think is inmoral to prevent other humans to freely access anything that could be considered cultural.
Anyone found a convenient way for music that’s not perpuating a subscription? I’m an iPhone user and do like my tunes in the car. I’m good for movies shows etc. Dropped them all ages ago.
Bandcamp.
Personally I won't even download it, I even deleted music ive had for years because the artist went maga. And let my daughter use the CD in some arts and crafts, because I can't listen to it anymore.
That said, yeah, I'd prefer to download over buying if I didnt want the company or artist to get the money for it.
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