Hey everybody! Happy December! Yes, I know the month is 1/2 over. Sorry for the lack of updates. Shout out to the bloggers that blog weekly or multiple times a week. This shit is hard! Anyway…

Well, after much debate on this topic with friends and others, I decided to finally post something on a touchy subject…Music Theft.

A couple of months ago, the infamous file sharing service Limewire shut down for good. After the service ceased there were all sorts of people pissing and moaning about not knowing where to go next to download free Music. In the midst of all the complaining I wondered, “When did it become cool to steal Music?”

“Back in the day” everybody paid for Music. Can y’all remember that? Before these file sharing services stepped on the scene, Music lovers were happy to hit the record store (yes, I said the RECORD store) to shell out some cash for some new (or old) jams. Nobody stole anything. As Detroit’s own DJ Houseshoes said, “Back in the day, you had to have balls to steal Music.” Meaning you had to go into a building to take that shit! Then services such as Kazaa, Napster and Limewire showed up. Those services allowed anyone to kick back in their easy chair and take whatever Music they want…for free…anytime, anywhere.

Not only did these services help to take money out of the pockets of hard-working artists, engineers, and Musicians, those services also helped to close the doors of some of my favorite funky little record stores.

I used to love going to a funky little record Store to BUY Music. It was cool, kicking it with other customers and staff (in person) that knew Music and truly loved it. It was an experience. During a recent visit to my hometown of Detroit, I reminisced about some of these places (Detroit Audio, Future Funk and others) as I traveled along 6 and 7 Mile roads (no, not damn 8 Mile, haha..anyway). I then thought about my Musician friends and how a lot of them tell me, “Regg’ no matter how good you get, never quit your 9 to 5. It’s too hard to make a living now.” I think this is a pretty sad as these people practice hard to share their gift with people…people who say they Love their Music but will run home and download it for free.

Within the past couple of weeks, a FB/Twitter pal of mine recently released a new CD, which I must say is pretty damn good. Although we haven’t met, I was really happy for her and her camp as I could tell they worked really hard on her release. Shortly after her CD was released some blogger decided to post some of her Music and make it available for free download. As you can guess, she was pissed….and I don’t blame her. (Side note, NO Music on my blog will be made available for download without the artist’s consent or unless they publicly announce that it is available for free download.) I mean damn, this is something someone has put a lot of energy into – practicing, writing, etc. Their team has worked hard on this. This is their baby so to speak.

Musicians and singers people spend weeks, months, sometimes years to make Music for us to enjoy. I know for a fact they love what they do but its also their job. It’s how they survive. Think about this, if you’ve invested hours upon hours to create something to share with people and hoped to make a small profit, wouldn’t you be pissed if someone decided to take it and offer it for free? I think you would be.

The next time you hear a song that moves you or gets your going – whether that be on a internet radio station, at your friend’s house party or at a club – before you wonder if someone is sharing it online, consider hitting up Amazon, Bandcamp.com (lots of good Music here), or iTunes. That jam or CD might not be as expensive as you think.

Music is an awesome, living thing (yes, I do believe it’s a living thing). It makes us feel good and can bring us peace during stressful times. It can be Life changing and is good for the Soul. Please do your part and support the Musicians and singers that make the Music you Love.

RJBass

And as always, here’s some Music to check out:

Iman Williams
Stupid Human Trick

Osmojam (offered for free by Osmojam)
Si tu veux rester

Neo Souljah
Afroe’d & Stilettoe’d – iTunes U.S.
Afroe’d & Stilettoe’d – iTunes Japan