this post was submitted on 07 May 2025
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Piracy: ꜱᴀɪʟ ᴛʜᴇ ʜɪɢʜ ꜱᴇᴀꜱ

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I wanna listen to a particular song by an artist who has recently turned pretty nazi. As I generally use Spotify I now refuse to listen to his music in there, esp as it generates earnings. I kinda wanna pirate the music somehow…I’m not gonna as I’m not gonna down a song or two and then store it on my phone like it’s the year 2000. But short story is this me justifying piracy to myself.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

I would rather own my files on my phone like it's the year 2000 than my devices becoming useless whenever $streaming_service shuts down or changes policy like it's the year 1984...

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I agree with this. But also, it's hard to beat the convenience of music streaming. It's getting more expensive, which is sad, but for awhile there it worked great. Almost any artist or music you wanted, just, available.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

Personally between downloading music from youtube with yt-dlp and bandcamp I don't feel like I'm missing out.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 days ago

Absolutely.

Piracy is a tool to fight back against the ruling class and help reduce the disparity in wealth.

That's why useful idiots have been conditioned to hate it or only use it for 'privacy' purposes.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 days ago

Spotify has fraudulent practices, so morality forces me not to give him income. All my music comes from Soulseek.

Here's a link for you to get an idea of what I'm talking about: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controversy_over_fake_artists_on_Spotify

What other option is there, other than Spotify? I doubt much that buying all the albums I hear is an option, as I hear a lot of music.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 days ago

This is why you should only ever buy physical or DRM-free, rather than streaming. If an artist goes in a direction you don't like, you can still enjoy their older work without giving them active income via streaming.

[–] [email protected] 99 points 1 week ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 43 points 1 week ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 week ago
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[–] [email protected] 50 points 1 week ago (5 children)

Ripping off Jeff Bezos is a moral imperative.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Why so specific...

Deny all parasites profit and engagement as much as possible where ever possible.

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[–] [email protected] 37 points 1 week ago (3 children)

My wife refuses to let me pirate books for her. She wants to support the authors she reads, which is fair. But she decided she wanted to try the Harry Potter books, and asked me to pirate them for her to make sure JK Rowling didn't get a penny out of her.

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[–] [email protected] 30 points 1 week ago (4 children)

Yeah I pirate all the games that:

  • Require an internet connection
  • Use Denuvo
  • Require a dedicated launcher
  • Require a connected account

If you're going to make the paid experience significantly worse than the free one because you want to implement anti-consumer BS, go fuck yourself

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 week ago

Also rootkit anti cheat.

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[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Honestly there's so much wonderful art out there not created by Nazis, I don't know that it's worth the energy to pirate Nazi music.

I totally understand the moral pirate argument, I just don't have time to enjoy all of the games, movies, and music from artists I support. To waste what time I have engaging with content from people I find morally repugnant is just not where I'm investing

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[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 week ago (1 children)

If it can't own my media, I'm certainly not going to pay for it.

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[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 week ago (3 children)

I periodically delete my Metallica collection so I can re-download it for no other reason than fuck Lars.

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Eh, it's kinda down to personal perspective. In mine, absolutely a reasonable way to handle things if you love the art, but don't feel morally comfortable supporting the artist.

I recommend people pirate Enders Game, because fuck Orson Scott Card.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I was a newly out queer teenager when OSC started running his mouth about gay marriage. At the same time I was a big Harry Potter fan.

Fuck Orson Scott Card, but he doesn't seem quite so bad anymore.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 week ago (4 children)

I view it like the "discomforting uncle versus outright hateful aunt". I still really don't want to support him, but equally, fuck her, she's out here on the fucking daily with her shit.

Plus, at this point, telling someone to pirate anything Rowling is like telling someone to breathe. You're either doing it, or okay with the outcome of your actions.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Basically, don't invite either of them to queer Thanksgiving.

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 week ago

See, that’s the thing. I don’t listen to music by Nazis.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 week ago (4 children)

Honestly, after seeing billionaires buy the US gov and then learning that Spotify is owned by a billionaire and artists are terribly compensated, I have been planning to once again fly the pirate flag. I want to pay the artists, but fuck the current options unless there is a different way idk about.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 days ago

I moved to Qobuz for that reason. Much better payout for the artists.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 days ago

Might be a good idea to pirate and then contact the artists about setting up donation channels.

Publishers are obsolete.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 week ago

When I wanted to revisit Harry Potter via audiobook, I pirated the books, and I will do it again someday.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

A system that allowed one to pirate corporate American made or distributed content while being able to give back directly to creators would be nice.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 week ago

Nobody is stopping you from pirating

Many musicians are set up to accept cash

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 week ago (1 children)

You should download it to a personal media server and stream it to your phone if you want to enjoy piracy the modern way.

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 week ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 week ago (1 children)

You have commitment issues with subscriptions.

I despise rent seeking behaviour.

we are not the same.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Yes I do this all the time for games

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 week ago

They tell us we don't own the game, only a license to play the game that they can arbitrarily revoke.

If you are going to hold my right to play something I paid for hostage, you can bet I am going to reclaim what I lost if that access is taken away from me (this does not apply to you selfish assholes that hack games to cheat then get banned).

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Disco Elysium is a great target for this

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 week ago

I never needed any moralistic reason to pirate.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 week ago

Yup, if you use Denuvo for your games, you can fuck right off

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 week ago

Pirating Andor bc Disney+ is on the BDS list. One of the best shows I've ever seen but I'd sooner drop it than violate the boycott, even if money was no object. As things stand, piracy is the only ethical way to watch it.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 week ago

Personally I won't even download it, I even deleted music ive had for years because the artist went maga. And let my daughter use the CD in some arts and crafts, because I can't listen to it anymore.

That said, yeah, I'd prefer to download over buying if I didnt want the company or artist to get the money for it.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 week ago

Downloading and listening can still indicate an indirect form of support. Up to the individual, but I lean towards this guy being as canceled as possible, recommend rerouting any efforts to listen to this towards searching for some new exciting music.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Pirate away but... i would simply still not listen to any music made by a nazi. Plenty of good songs out there NOT made by a nazi.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 week ago

I'd make backups of my purchases and share them with love for preservation and promotion of their authors hard work. "Piracy" was already shown to increase sales, not reduce them. If you really want to do something against an artist you no longer align with, dont consume their products. Don't purchase, don't download and don't share their stuff. Just look around for other artists you do align with, get hooked to their art and support them instead.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Absolutely. Chris Brown is a prime example. I quite like some of his collab tunes, but I absolutely refuse to give any money - a percentage or not - to that wifebeating spunktrumpet.

In fact, the fact that I'm actively screwing him out of money makes me enjoy the song more.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 week ago

If he has turned Nazi then I probably wouldn’t both to listen to them anymore.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 week ago

I mean free is nice but I seed because fuck the system and upload stuff because it's suppose to be available to all.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 week ago (1 children)

My piracy is probably equal parts sticking it to greedy corpos and me just not wanting to pay when I can get it for free.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

You don't have to justify it, really, but it does feel satisfying when you do.

Which song of his out of curiosity? Just use Soulseek. (nicotine+ on desktop or Seeker on Android)

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