Yes, it's theft, but as a musician myself, if I was selling music, I would rather people pirated and listened to my music than didn't listen to it at all. To me it's more important that people listen to my music for free, than don't listen to it because they won't pay for it. I would imagine most bands would feel exactly the same way.
The problem is people who download music they would otherwise pay for. That's when you're robbing an artist of money they deserve. If the album is worth it's shop price to you, but you download it (illegally) instead, you are screwing over the artist you claim to like. My argument is that, if you would honestly never buy the album under any circumstances, then downloading the MP3s isn't bad, because the two choices from the artists perspective are (A) "No money" or (B) "No money, but someone else listening to your music". I think most musicians would choose B.
haha. I knew the "let's not discuss piracy thing" wouldn't work. I guess a mod can tell us to shut up if they feel it's out of line. Then someone else other than us can ignore that request, talk about downloading teh WaREzzz and get the thread locked.
