Music to my ears

For most of my music listening years, I downloaded singles and entire albums through p2p file sharing engines like Limewire. With Limewire I could only download music that was reletively popular. So in my mind I was "stealing" from artist who had so much money, my little 2 dollar song or 13 dollar album download would be so insignificant that they would not have time to notice, what with all the parties, fashion shows, premiers, and red carpet events. I figured they didn't really need or deserve my little hard earned 13 bucks, as a college student 13 dollar translates to alot. food for the month (Ramen noodles) a couple outfits complimentary of 99 cents days at the goodwill, so for me to sacrifice this seemed too much for me. But as I thought about it more it began to bother me.

Since I was a child I have had a terrible conscious, I can't steal or lie without feeling a tremendous amout of guilt. I once found this really awesome pair of gloves and instead of my usual routine of returning lost objects to the lost and found I kept them, I could never bring myself to wear them though because I felt so bad, I know it seems silly but I returned those gloves to the lost and found about 3 months later because I couildn't take it anymore. I couldn't even steal from places like wal-mart, and I know for a fact they would't miss my little 5 dollar purchase, but I am a firm believer in karma, so once i decided that downloading was the same as theft I began to feel bad. I can't remember the last time I charged my ipod. But since I have come to this revelation I have purchased about 10 cds, the first was Kanye's new album, and the artwork included in the cd is something you couldn't download! I also bought King's of Leon new album, and Cee-lo's to name a few, and sure my ipod may not have a billion songs on it anymore, at least I feel good about every song on ther. And I have listened to these cds with a gratifying feeling in my ear, that made me feel like a true fan. I in no way want this post to sound like some goody to shoe read, but if you haven't bought a cd in a while then try it, I promise it feels a million times better then a 5  minute download.

 

-Victoria Jones @lizabvintro