A selection of my fully authentic, fully piad for DVD’s, book and CD’s…Gosh I’m a good boy!

The world today is a weird place, compared to when we were growing up as kids. Back in the day we bought music, saving up for those albums we really wanted. Nirvana’s Nevermind, Lives ‘Throwing Copper’, and hell if you liked to wear pink Tutus as a young boy you probably bought a Spice Girls album. We also paid for news at one point in time, but now we refuse to pay for anything. We read websites for free and as soon as there is any advertising or too much advertising we shout ’sell out’. But everytime we shout sell out, there is someone struggling to make money, working for free or for very little. As soon as a friend buys a CD these days, we simply take it, make a copy and it’s on our iPod and on iTunes.

Look, I like most people have listened to loads of copied music in my time, so I’m no saint (Although I resemble a Greek God and you no doubt want me)

But for some time now I’ve believed that you should treat people the way you’d like to be treated. This doesn’t mean you need to live a dull life and go to church and drink Coke Light and not laugh when a fat person falls down an elevator. I mean I’m the first to laugh when a fat person drops their burger, steps on it and falls on their whale ass. But when it comes to some things, if people have worked hard, then they deserve the recognition for their work.

And paying musicians for their work should be standard. Unfortunately these days, it’s the exception. And I hate it, I really do. People are forever telling me that they have loads of music I need to take from them, but you know, I don’t feel that good about it. And everyone always says ‘Support local’, but how many of those people actually buy the albums?

SLXS…supporting…and most importantly, paying for local music

For musicians, many have struggled for years and years to to refine and perfect a sound that the public want to listen to. Ten or more years of hard work, and finally the public deem their music worthy of a listen…and then don’t even pay for it!

KIFF! How would you like it if you ate bread and baked beans for 10 years while you struggle to build your business up? So you build a massive brand, let’s say Virgin. then someone else comes into your office, clones your staff, your ideas, photocopies all your paperwork, and sets up their very own company like yours and people go to the ‘cloned’ business. Wouldn’t you be pissed off?

Wouldn’t it literally make you want to go mad?

This is exactly the same thing as pirating music. And if you want to copy music, then go for it. I just don’t like the way it feels when I listen to copied music. It’s like wearing stolen clothes, or driving a stolen car.

And the point is, music gives my life INCREDIBLE amounts of happiness, and this is all thanks to the talented musicians. Music brings insane amounts of joy to my life…and I think the musicians need to be rewarded for making our lives better. Because they do.

Musicians, when you really look at it, are the glue of society, keeping everything together. Think of a social event where you had fun and where there wasn’t music? When was the last time you got drunk and danced in a club in silence? Can’t think of any?

Exactly. Music is a link in our lives, when removed, will surely break us apart. It’s pretty much a fact that musicians form one of the most important sectors of society. A small sector of society, keeping it all together in these lost and crazy times. When we’re happy we listen to music, when we’re sad we seek solace in music.

We listen to music when we’re drunk, when we’re sober, when we’re at work, when we’re on holiday, when we’re in the car, on a plane,  at the beach, in the bush…it’s just always there, pushing us on, helping us break our limits, forging a path where we can’t see one. Music gets us through the easiest times and the hardest times. And shouldn’t the people who make it be rewarded for that?

Wouldn’t we hate to work for free? Wouldn’t we hate it if we had to take another job, to support our job? This is too often the case with musicians, music needs to be supplemented by another job.

I can’t make decisions for you, but I can offer you some insight. I can’t make you buy music, but I can let you know that if you don’t pay for music…the musicians can’t pay for food.

And to be very honest, a society without music is not a society at all. So let’s pull ourselves together, stop being so greedy, and pay R150 for that album that a musician has struggled and worked to create.

Without music, who are you? What is society?

Think about it…

Well whatever, that’s just my point of view.