A Pirate's Life for Me

(for best dramatic effect, please play this video in the background while reading)

For the lucky few that get to cast their eyes upon me booty, a full 65 gig o' tunes in me music library, they may shout, "Blimey, where'd ya find such a motherlode?"

In most cases, a good cap'n ne'er reveals his tricks, but i'll tell ye this once and only once:

I've been anchored in Pirate Bay for many months.

"Avast, ye scallywag! That be stolen loot!"

Aye, but this pirate is done paying fifteen dollars for three to six minutes of good music, only to find out that its another forty minutes of crap. I'm tired of paying good money for a reliable band's new album just to find it full of unsubstantial radio bait. I'm talking to you, Snow Patrol!

I may not have obtained some of my new ships by "legal" means, but they be strong vessels nonetheless, and I'll sail them for many seas. Had I not embraced the philosophy of downloading music, I surely wouldn't have gotten into:

Frightened Rabbit
Beth Orton
Manchester Orchestra
The Flaming Lips
Sigur Ros
Jon Hopkins
Jets to Brazil
God is an Astronaut
City and Colour
Bright Eyes
Air
Stars of the Lid
Bon Iver
The Airborne Toxic Event

or

The Great Lake Swimmers
Band of Horses
The Tallest Man on Earth
Sparklehorse

I never thought I could be a 30 Seconds to Mars fan. But after downloading their music, I realized that I liked them so much that I sailed all the way to Indianapolis on a Wednesday night to see them in concert, where they pull in most of their bounty anyway. If I steal and pillage music from an artist and I think it's a fair effort on their behalf, then I will give them all the financial support I can. If it's not quality, then they didn't deserve any of me gold anyway.

Outlaws such as meself don't plunder from such good mateys because we want to blow the man down. We do it because the system be broken, cast adrift. Maybe the lot of us that sail through Pirate Bay are on our way to fixin' it, or maybe we're all heading for Davy Jones' Locker. Either way, we be livin free 'til we get there.

This might get me in trouble

I'm a pirate.


This is true. I pirate different things from the internet. Some of them have been so good that I have eventually went out and supported the creator. A couple examples are my backgrounds, four albums from Nine Inch Nails, and books from Cory Doctorow. All of these have enriched my life in some way or another and it felt good to support them.


That said, according to the law, I steal things from people. I have no problem 'stealing' these 'things' from different creators. For the sake of whatever, I am going to remain ambiguous on what I download, but I suppose you could figure out what I download.


I like entertainment. Sometimes I just don't pay for it. I would if I could, sometimes. Pirating different things is not much different from renting, checking out, borrowing or lending something to someone. Many times, there are things that I would have preferred to not buy because the end product was not worth the cost. Software and games come to mind more so than movies. Dropping sixty bucks on something that I won't like for very long doesn't seem like a good investment for me. If I sell it later, I won't get what I paid for it back.


Then there are things that I own that I have no problem pirating. But according to the law, it's illegal for me to do this. Things like the Creative Commons are changing the way that the piracy is affecting things. Take companies like Steam which gives away free games and gives free play weekends for different games. This has led me to purchasing a couple of different games. They were so much fun that I had no problem paying for the game.


What's is weird for me, is that I have ethics about what I pirate. Somethings I just refuse to pirate. But as I see more and more of the enemies (the R.I.A.A, the MPAA, and DRM) challenging the little guys.


Students, the young, and the old are their primary targets.


So how do we fight back? Let me tell you.


We fight back by going underground. We self-publish, but beware of fan fiction. Internet DJ's use places like 8tracks. Bands can use myspace music. Filmmakers can use Youtube and post complete movies that they create. I'll even give you two examples that work well for this and utilize many forms of media to get their words out to the masses. This is especially important as more and more of us are getting broker. I know that I am.


Youtube recently showed a full concert over the internet. For free. If I could have, would I have preferred to be at the John Legend and The Roots concert? Absolutely. Instead, I got to go to it for free, just over the internet.


Authors like Seth Harwood release books for free in various formats. All of his books are available for free or you could pay for them. Have I paid for his books? You betcha.


What I really think, is that 'piracy' is helping significantly. Many artists, authors, filmmakers, photographers and anyone in any entertainment and research media field can now be on the same page as the professionals. Many of these amateurs are using this as a spring board and becoming professionals.